Budget 2019 Highlights

Budget 2019 Highlights

FM announced additional tax deduction of Rs 1.50 lakh on interest on home loans.

After a pre-election, populist Budget in February 2019, the Modi government today presented the Union Budget to boost infrastructure and foreign investment at a time when the economy is showing signs of a slowdown. Taking a pragmatic approach, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today announced no changes in personal income tax rates but levied an additional surcharge on the super-rich. She also sought to spur growth with a reduction in corporate tax and sops to the housing sector, startups and electric vehicles. 

Among key announcements, Sitharaman said that digital payments will get cheaper, govt will launch an ATM-like One Nation One Card for pan-India travel and new model rental laws will be unveiled to boost affordable housing. 

Here are all the key Highlights from the Finance Minister's speech:

Taxes:
* No change in personal income tax rates

* Additional Rs 1.5 lakh tax relief on home loan for the purchase of a house up to Rs 45 lakh. 

* Custom duty hike on fuel by 1 rupee, gold and precious items; Petrol & diesel to get costlier. 

3% surcharge on an income of Rs 2 crore; 7% on Rs 5 crore and above. 

* Corporate tax with a turnover of up to Rs 400 crore slashed to 25 per cent from a current rate of 30 per cent. 

* Interchangeability of PAN and Aadhaar for ITR for those who don't have PAN cards. 

* Advises GST Council to reduce the tax rate on EVs from 12 per cent to 5 per cent. 

Duty has been raised on: tiles, cashew kernels, vinyl flooring, auto parts, some synthetic rubber, digital and video recorder and CCTV camera. 

Affordable housing:
* Rental laws to be reformed. Modern tenancy laws will be shared with states to promote house renting. 

To promote digital payments:
* 2% TDS on withdrawals of Rs 1 crore in a year from your bank account for business payments. 

* No charge on digital payments: MDR charges waived on cashless payment. 

Ease of living:
* Aadhaar card for NRIs on arrival in India. 

* Rs 3,000 pension per month for workers from the informal sector. 

Transportation
* Inter-operable One Nation One transport card: ATM-like Transport card for universal travel on various modes of transport (metro, road, railways etc). 

*Govt plans to create MRO (Manufacturing, Repair and Operate) industry. 

* PPP to be used to unleash faster development and the delivery of passenger freight services. 

* Comprehensive restructuring of National Highways Programme for creation of National Highways Grid. 

* Government envisions using rivers for cargo transport to decongest roads and railways. 

Economy:
* Fiscal deficit in FY 19 at 3.3% of the GDP. 

* Govt will start raising part of borrowing in foreign currency. 

* Govt external debt to GDP is among the lowest in the world. 

Women empowerment:

* Nari tu Narayani: Women SHG Interest Subvention Programme to be expanded to all districts in India. 

* Rs 1 lakh loan to be provided for SHG women members. 

* Every verified woman SHG member having a Jan Dhan account can avail Rs 5,000 rupees overdraft facility. 

Banking reform:
* On purchase of high-rate pooled assets of NBFC amounting of Rs 1 lakh crore in this FY, govt will provide one-time 6-month credit guarantee. 

* Propose to provide Rs 70,000 crore capital for PSU Banks. 

* Regulation of HFCs (Housing Finance Cos) to move to RBI from National Housing Bank. 

Divestment:
* Govt to modify the present policy of retaining 51% stake in PSUs. 

* Govt to continue with strategic divestment of select CPSEs. 

* Divestment target of Rs 1.05 lakh crore for FY 20. 

Railways:
* A new PPP model will usher in the new dawn of Indian railway.

* Railways to be encouraged to invest more in suburban rail network via SPVs. 

* Railway infrastructure will need an investment of Rs 50 lakh crore between 2018 and 2030. 

MSME:
* Propose easing angel tax for startups. 

*Angel tax: won't require scrutiny from I-T department for a startup. 

* 2% interest subvention for GST-registered MSME on fresh or incremental loans. 

* ‘Stand Up India' Scheme to continue till 2025. 

* New television channel for start-ups. 

* Pension benefit extended to retail traders with annual turnover less than Rs 1.5 crore. 

* New payment platform for MSMEs to be created. 

Education: 
* Govt to launch 'Study in India' programme to attract foreign students in higher education. 

* Allocate Rs 400 crore for world-class higher education institutions in FY 20. 

* To unveil a new education policy. 

* National research foundation to fund, coordinate and to promote research in the country. 

* New Higher Education Commission with focus on higher autonomy. 

* New national education policy to propose changes in school, higher education. 

Tourism:
*17 iconic world-class tourist sites to be developed. 

FDI: 
* Local sourcing norms will be relaxed for the single-brand retail sector. 

* Govt to open FDI in aviation, insurance, animation AVGC and media. 

Investment: 
* Existing KYC norms for FPIs to be rationalized and simplified to make it more investor-friendly. 

* Long-term bonds for the market. 

* To allow FIIs & FPIs investment in debt securities issued by NBFCs. 

* Credit Guarantee Enhancement Corporation to be set up long-term bonds with a specific focus on infra sector 

* Propose Social Stock Exchange under SEBI for listing social enterprises & voluntary organisations. 

* To merge NRI portfolio route with FPI route. 

* To hike statutory limit for foreign investment in some companies. 

* To set up a credit guarantee enhancement corporation. 

* Govt will take up measures to make RBI & SEBI depositories inter-operable. 

* SEBI to mull increasing minimum public shareholding to 35% from 25%. 

* User-friendliness of trading platforms for corporate bonds will be reviewed, including issues arising out of capping of International Securities Identification Number. 

* To deepen corporate tri-party repo market in corporate debt securities. Plan to enable stock exchanges to allow AA rated bonds as collateral. 

* Annual Global Investors' Meet for attracting global players to come and invest in India. 

*To allow FPIs to subscribe to listed debt papers of REITs. 

Auto sector:
* FAME II scheme aims to encourage faster adoption of electric vehicles through the right incentives and charging infrastructure. 

* Govt will set up 100 new clusters for 50,000 artisans in FY 20. 

* To invest Rs 80,250 cr for upgradation of roads under PM Gram Sadak Yojana. 

*Every single rural family, except those unwilling, to have electricity by 2022. 

Agriculture:
* Govt to promote innovative zero Budget farming. 

* 10,000 new farms produce organisations. 

* 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. 

Space:
*India has emerged as a major space power. It is time to harness our ability commercially. 

* A public sector enterprise, New Space India Limited (NSIL) has been incorporated to tap benefits of ISRO. 

Sports:

* To popularise sports at all levels, National Sports Education Board for development of sportspersons to be set up under 'Khelo India.' 

State of the economy:
* Railways will require an investment of Rs 50 lakh crore from 2018-30. 

* Schemes such as Bharat Mata, Sagarmala and UDAN are bridging rural-urban divide and improving our transport infrastructure. 

* 'Gandhipedia' is being developed to sensitize the youth about positive Gandhian values. 

* The unambiguous mandate by the people in the recent election has set the ball rolling for the New India. 

* NPAs recover Rs 4 lakh crore over the last four years, NPAs down by Rs 1 lakh crore in the last one year. 

* Rashtriya Swachhta Kendra to be inaugurated at Rajghat on October 2. 

* The people of India have validated their two goals for our country's future: National security and Economic growth. 

* ' Yakeen ho to koi raasta niklata hai, hawa ki awt(protection) bhi le kar chiragh jalta hai' 

* It took us over 55 years to reach $1 trillion dollar economy, but we added $1 trillion in just 5 years. 

* We can very well reach $5 trillion in the next few years. 

* Last mile delivery stood out, citizens in every nook and corner of the country felt the difference; our objective was and continues to be Mazbooth Desh Ke Liye Mazbooth Nagarik.

* Government lays out the 10-point vision for the New India. 

* India will become $3 trillion economies this year. We need to continue to take many structural reforms to achieve $5 trillion economic goals. 

*Connectivity is the lifeline of the economy. 

Source: The Economic Times

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