New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday presented the Union Budget 2015, saying the state of the country’s economy is better placed today with its credibility re-established by a series of measures taken by the Narendra Modi government.
Here are the key features of #Budget2015
– Defer the applicability of GAAR by 2 years; effective from 1.04.2017
– Wealth Tax to be abolished
– 2% surcharge on those who have income of over Rs 1 cr per annum
– Benami Property Transaction bill to tackle black money transaction in real estate soon
– PAN must for any sale exceeding Rs 1 lakh
– High corporate tax with too many exceptions gives us worst of both worlds, we neither get revenues nor investments
– Taxation is an instrument of socio-economic engineering
– Corporate Tax to be reduced to 25% from 30%
– GST expected to play transformative role by creating a common market; have already introduced bill for same
– Aim to rationalize and cut exemptions in corporate tax
– Govt to get tough on Black Money
– Direct Tax collection is going to be 14.49 lakh crore rupees
– To avoid surprise in taxation policy
– Corporate tax to be reduced by 5% over next four years
– Policy of Make in India in Defence not only to cater our needs but also for export
– Defence budget enhanced to Rs 2,46,727 crore
– Special Assistance to Bihar and West Bengal
– Rs 15,000 crore scheme to skill rural India
– Poor students get fund aid through PM scheme
– Renewable energy target will be increased to 1,75,000 MW
– AIIMS to be set up in J&K, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Assam
– IIT in Karnataka, IIMs in J&K and Andhra Pradesh
– ISM Dhanabad will be upgraded to full IIT
– Section 6 of FEMA to be amended
– Public procurement law to be introduced
– Public contracts resolution bill to be introduced
– Rupay Debit Cards to be incentivised, to move towards paperless transactions
– Regulatory reform law for infrastructure development
– To launch National Skills Mission to boost jobs
– Committee to be set up to plan the celebration of the 100th birth anniversary of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya
– Govt to do away with distinctions between FII and FDI and replace it with Composite Caps
– Another 1,000 crores for Nirbhaya Fund
– Corpus for maintenance of Global Heritage Sites at Goa, Gujarat, J&K, Mumbai, Punjab and Telangana
– Environment friendly development process only
– Foreign investment in alternate investment funds
– Govt to introduce Gold Monetization Scheme, Sovereign Gold Bonds
– EPF & ESI has hostage rather than client ; ESI should be made optional to employees
– Visa on arrival for 150 countries in phases
– FMC to be strengthened by merging with SEBI
– To put in place bankruptcy code soon
– Employees contribution to EPF should be optional
– Indian Gold Coin with Ashok Chakra
– 5 Ultra Mega power projects, of 4000 MW announced
– Highest ever allocation for MGNREGA, by increasing it this year by 5,000 crore rupees
– Internationally competitive Direct Tax regime to be put in place
– Deepening of bond market to complement our world class equity; Public Debt Management agency towards this end
– Ports in public sector will be encouraged to corporatize & become companies under Companies Act
– Plan an expert committee for Drafting Legislation for Regulatory mechanism
– NBFCs with size of Rs 500 cr and above to get parity in recoveries
– Capex for state PSUs to be Rs 3.17 lakh crore
– PM agri plans get Rs 3,000 crore extra allocation
– Initial sum of Rs 150 Cr to create world class IT hub to take advantage of our competitiveness
– Expert committee to examine need for multiple prior clearances for projects
– PPP model has to be revised and revitalized
– Rs 30,000 crore allocation for SC welfare schemes
– Lending priority to be given to SC, ST in Mudra bank
– Outlay upped by 24,000 cr for rail, road
– Capex for state PSUs to be Rs 3.17 lakh crore
– Atal Innovation Mission to foster culture of research among India’s and global brain
– Investment in Infrastructure to go up by 70,000 crores in 2015-16 over 2014-15
– Tax free Infrastructure bonds for projects in railways and roads
– PM Surakhsha Bima Yojna to increase the access to insurance ; it will be linked with Jan Dhan Yojna
– Atal Pension Yojna to provide defined pension according to contribution
– Divestment in loss making units
– New scheme called Nayi Manzil to enable minority youth without school-leaving certificates to get the employment
– Exhibition of Parsi culture
– Senior citizens welfare fund to subsidise the premium for elderly people
– MUDRA bank to refinance micro finance institution under PMs MUDRA scheme
– To utilize vast postal network for increasing access to institutional banking
– To launch PM Suraksha Bhima Yojana, offering coverage of 2 lakh rupees for just premium of Rs 12 (Rs 1 per month)
– Universal Social Security for all indians
– New scheme physical aid and assited
– GST to be in place by April 01. 2016
– Senior citizens welfare fund to subsidise the premium for elderly people
– Proposes a Mudra Bank of corpus of 20000 crores to refinance the MFIs
– To bring a Comprehensive Bankruptcy code for the ease of doing business by 2015-16
– Committed to increase the access of people to formal financial system
– Committed to bring a Universal social security system for all
– Manufacturing Hub through Make in India program
– Forex reserves at $340 billion
– We need a well targeted system of subsidies rather than to cut subsidies
– Micro irrigation to get Rs 5300 crore
– Electrification of villages by 2020
– To continue with MNREGA
– Agri credit target in 2015-16 increased to 8.5 lakh crore
– National agri market to increase income of farmers
– Well-targeted system of Subsidy delivery, cutting down of leakage
– Need well targeted system to rationalise subsidies
– LPG direct transfer subsidy to be expanded
– Rural Infrastructure Development Fund to be at Rs 25000 Cr
– Road map to achieve Fiscal Deficit of 3% of GDP in three years
– Target of 3.9% in Fiscal Deficit 2015-16
– Target of 3.5% in Fiscal Deficit 2016-17
– Target of 3% in Fiscal Deficit 2017-18
– Will finish the journey to 3% fiscal deficit in two years
– Tax buoyancy is lower but still we will meet the promise of Fiscal deficit of 4.1% of GDP this year
– Latest CPI 5.1% WPI negative
– States to get 62% of the total resources
– Rural and urban divide to be removed
– A roof for each family in India by 2022- 75th Year of India’s Independence