Union Budget 2015 Union Budget 2015[/caption] Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget 2015 in the Lok Sabha. Highlights of The Budget are:
Yoga – included under charitable activites.
Indiviual taxpayer can get benefits up to Rs. 4,44,200.
Transport allowance exemption to be increased to Rs. 1,600 per month.
Rs. 50,000 contribution to new pension scheme. “To make India a pensioned society.”
Additional deduction of Rs. 25,000 for differently abled persons.
Increase in limit of deduction of health insurance premium of Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 25,000. For senior citizens, limit will be Rs. 30,000. Very senior citizens – Rs. 30,000 deduction on expenses incurred.
2 per cent cess on services for Swachch Bharat.
100 per cent deduction for contribution to Swachch Bharat and Clean Ganga schemes.
Service Tax rate increased to 14 per cent.
Educational cess and higher educational cess to be subsumed as a part of GST.
Wealth tax – Rs. 1,008 crore in 2013-14. Wealth tax to be abolished and replaced with a super-rich tax for those with income of over Rs. 1 crore.
Basic custom duty rate reduced for 22 items.
GAAR – applicability to be deferred by two years.
Allocation for renewable energy
First proposal is to deal with black money. In the last 9 months, a major breakthrough was achieved when a delegation of the Revenue Department visited Switzerland.
Exemption to individual taxpayers will continue.
Taxation;
Basic rate of corporate tax in India is now 30 per cent. But rate of collection is 23 per cent. A regime of exemptions has led to loss of revenue.
Coporate tax rate will be reduced to 25 per cent over the next four years.
Budget estimates:
Non-plan expenditure – Rs. 13,12,200 crore
Plan expenditure – Rs. 4,65,277 crore
Fiscal deficit – 3.9% of GDP
Make in India policy for defence equipment – Rs. 2,46,727 crore allocation for defence.
Rs. 68,968 crore for education sector.
AIIMS in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Assam. AIIMS-like institution in Bihar. IIT in Karnataka. IIMs in Jammu and Kashmir, and Andhra Pradesh. Centre for Film Production and Animation in Arunachal Pradesh.
Fully IT based student financial aid scheme for higher education.
National Skills Mission for skill development and entrepreneurship – Rs. 1,500 crore.
Procurement law for public contracts. Govt. to introduce Public Contracts (Resolution of Disputes) Bill.
Regulatory reform law to be introduced.
Rs. 75 crore for electric cars production.
Visa on arrival scheme – increased to 150 countries in different stages.
World Heritage Sites – churches and convents of old Goa, Hampi, Elephanta caves, Leh palace, Varanasi temple town, Jallianwala Bagh etc., will be developed to make them more tourist-friendly.
Rs. 1,000 crore additional allocation to the Nirbhaya fund.
Will do away with different types of foreign investment � like FPI and FDI � and replace them with a comprehensive type.
EPF – Employee may opt for EPF or new pension scheme, employee’s contribution to EPF below an income threshold will be optional without reducing employer’s contribution.
Direct Tax regime which will be internationally competitive on rates.
Rs. 5,000 crore additional allocation for MGNREGA.
Ports will be encouraged to corporatise and become companies under Companies Act.
The govt. is establishing a mechanism for techno-financial incubation and facilitation programme – Rs. 1,000 crore set aside for this.
Investment in Infrastructure will go up by Rs 70,000 crore in 2015-16. Annual inflow of Rs. 20,000 crore by way of a trust, to use this extra equity to leverage investment in infrastructure. PPP model to be revisited and revitalised. Atal Innovation Mission – for entrepreneurs and researchers to foster a culture of innovation: R.s 150 crore for this purpose.
Nayi Manzil scheme – to enable minority youth to obtain school leaving certificate and gain better employment.
Assisted living devices for senior citizens living below the poverty line.
Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana – Rs. 1 per day premium, Rs. 2 lakh coverage.
Accident death risk – Rs 2 lakhs for a premium of Rs. 12 per year. Atal Pension Yojana – defined pension depending on contribution. Govt. will contribute 50 per cent of the amount.
NBFCs registered with RBI above Rs. 5,000 crore to be considered financial institutions.
Will create Mudra Bank with corpus of Rs. 20,000 crore for microfinance.
In order to improve soil health, the Agriculture Ministry’s organic farming programme, Rs. 5,300 crore for micro-irrigation watershed projects.
Gross disinvestment in loss-making units will be undertaken. DBT will be further expanded from 1 crore to 10.3 crore.
Government will continue all social sector programmes like MNREGA, rural schemes etc.
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