New Delhi: Finally the much-awaited Budget of Modi government 2.0 was presented by the Finance Minister of India Nirmala Sitharaman. The budget brought a smile as well as sorrow depending upon the various category people.
Here are the ten takeaways from Modi Government budget 2019:
* Finance minister proposed to enhance surcharge on individual income of Rs 2-5 crore and over Rs 5 crore by 3% and 7% respectively. She said that those in the highest income bracket need to contribute more to national development.
* Customs duty on gold and other precious metals from 10% to 12.5% has been proposed.
* To provide further impetus to affordable housing, an additional deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh on interest paid on loans borrowed up to March 31, 2020 for purchase of house up to Rs 45 lakhs.
* Special additional duty and road and infrastructure cess on diesel and petrol to be increased by Re 1/litre.
* "From 1.85 trillion dollars in 2014, the economy has reached 2.7 trillion US dollars; We can very well reach 5 trillion dollars in the next few years. The Indian economy will grow to become a 3 trillion dollar economy this year itself."
* Government has already moved the GST council to lower the GST rate on electric vehicles(EV) from 12% to 5%.
* Finance minister said that the fiscal deficit in 2019 is 3.3% brought down from 3.4%.
* All companies having an annual turnover of 400 crores, will now be under the bracket of 5% corporate tax rate. This will cover 99.3% of all the companies
* To provide further impetus to affordable housing, an additional deduction of 1.5 lakh rupees on interest paid on loans borrowed up to 31 March 2020 for purchase of house up to Rs 45 lakhs.
* 'Gandhi-pedia' too to be developed on the lines of the encyclopedia to help promote Gandhian school of thought.
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Sector-wise highlights
Employment
*80 Livelihood business incubators and 20 technology business incubators to be set up in 2019-20 under ASPIRE to develop 75,000 skilled entrepreneurs in agro-rural industries.
Increase focus on skill sets required by the youth to apply for job opportunities abroad like language skills and artificial intelligence (AI).
* We propose to start a television program on DD National, exclusively for startups. This program will be designed and executed by startup's themselves.
Banks
* Government considering to go below 51% to an appropriate level of the ownership stake in non-financial public sector undertakings on a case by case baby case basis.
* Public Sector Banks (PSBs) to be provided Rs 70,000 crore to boost capital and improve credit.
* PSBs will use technology, enabling customers of one PSB to access service across all PSBs as well.
* For purchase of high-rated pooled assets of financially sound Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) amounting to Rs 1 lakh crore during 2019-20, one-time six-month partial credit guarantee to be given to PSBs.
* Regulation authority over the housing finance sector to be returned from National Housing Bank to RBI.
Railways
* Railway infra would need an investment of 50 lakh crores between 2018 and 2030; PPP to be used to unleash faster development and delivery of passenger freight services.
* Railways to be encouraged to invest more in suburban railways through Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) structures such as Rapid Regional Transport System (RRTS); more Public-Private Partner (PPP) initiatives to be encouraged in the rail sector.
Tax
* Direct tax collection increased by 78%; Tax collection rose from Rs 6.38 lakh crore in 2013-14 78%; Tax collection rose from Rs 6.38 lakh crore in 2013-14 to Rs 11.37 lakh crore in 2018.
* All companies having an annual turnover of 400 crores, will now be under the bracket of 25% corporate tax rate. This will cover 99.3% of all the companies.
* More than 120 crore Indians now have Aadhar card, therefore for ease of taxpayers, I propose to make PAN card and Aadhar card interchangeable and allow those who don't have PAN to file returns by simply quoting Aadhar number and use it wherever they require to use PAN.
* To provide further impetus to affordable housing, an additional deduction of 1.5 lakh rupees on interest paid on loans borrowed up to 31 Mar 2020 for purchase of house up to 45 lakhs.
GST
* Rs 350 crore allocated for 2% interest subvention for all GST-registered MSMEs on fresh or incremental loans.
*Fully automated GST Refund module shall be implemented; multiple tax ledgers to be replaced by one; invoice details to be captured in a central system.
Electric Vehicles (EVs)
* Government has already moved the GST council to lower the GST rate on electric vehicles(EV) from 12% to 5%.
* Government will provide Rs 1.5 lakh income tax deduction on interest payments on a loan taken for the purchase of electric vehicles.
* FAME II scheme aims to encourage faster adoption of electric vehicles by right incentives and charging infrastructure.