Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented Union Budget 2016-17

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget 2016-17 in the Parliament. It was the 2nd full year Budget of the NDA government under leadership of Prime Minister of Narendra Modi and the 3rd budget of Arun Jaitley as Finance Minister. The Union Finance minister has announced Nine pillars of the budget. They are rural sector, social sector including healthcare, education, skills & job creation, Agriculture and farmers’ welfare, Infrastructure, ease of doing business, financial sector reforms, fiscal discipline, tax reforms to reduce compliance burden.
Key Highlights:

• Higher allocation for agriculture, infrastructure and social sectors.


• Fiscal deficit pegged at 3.5 percent, Revenue deficit was at 2.5 percent during 2015-16.

Taxation

• 1% service charge on purchase of luxury cars over Rs. 10 lakh and in cash purchase of goods and services over Rs. 2 lakh.


• Companies with revenue less than Five crore rupees will be taxed at 29 percent plus surcharge. 5% Krishi Kalyan Cess to be levied on all services.


• Infrastructure cess to be levied. 1 percent excise imposed on articles of jewellery, excluding silver.


• 1 percent Pollution cess of on small petrol, CNG & LPG cars; 2.5 percent on diesel cars of certain specifications and on higher end models 4 percent cess.

Personal Finance

• No changes have been made to existing income tax slabs 1,000 crore rupees will be allocated for Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) scheme.


• Government will pay 8.33 percent EPF contribution for all new employees for 1st 3 years Exemption of 50,000 rupees for housing loans up to 35 lakh rupees, provided cost of house is not above 50 lakh rupees.


• 15 percent surcharge on income above Rs. 1 crore.

Social

• Allocation of Rs. 38,500 crore for MGNREGA for 2016-17 Allocation of Rs.9,500 crores for Swacch Bharat Abhiyan.


• LPG connections will be provided under the name of women members of family. Rs 2000 crore will be allocated for five years for BPL families.


• Government to launch new initiative to provide cooking gas to BPL families with state support. Grants of 2.87 lakh crore rupees to gram panchayats & municipalitie.


• Under Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission 300 urban clusters to be set up. 4 schemes for animal welfare.

Health

• New health protection scheme will be launched for health cover upto One lakh per family. Additional healthcare cover of Rs 30,000 will be provided to senior citizens under it.


• National Dialysis Service Programme will be launched at all district hospitals with funds through PPP mode. PM Jan Aushadhi Yojana will be strengthened and 300 generic drug store to be opened

Education

• For promoting entrepreneurship among SC/ST, Rs.500 crore will be allocated to Scheme 10 public & 10 private educational institutions will be made world class.


• Digital repository mandatory for all school leaving certificates & diplomas. For the higher education financing, allocation of Rs. 1,000 crore.


• Allocation of 1,700 crore rupees for 1500 multi skill development centres. 62 navodaya vidyalayas to be established to provide quality education.


• Digital literacy scheme will be launched to cover Six crore additional rural households. Entrepreneurship training will be provided at schools, colleges and massive online courses.


• Provide skill training to One crore youth under the PM Kaushal Vikas Yojna in the next Three years. 1500 Multi-skill training institutes will be set up.

Energy

• Allocation of 3000 crore for nuclear power generation Government to chalk out comprehensive plan for exploiting nuclear energy.


• Government to provide incentive for deepwater gas exploration & market freedom for it. Pre determined ceiling price will be on landed price of alternate fuels.

Investments & infrastructure

• 65 eligible habitats will be connected via 2.23 lakh kms of road. Current construction pace is 100 kms/day. Allocation of Rs. 27,000 crore on roadways and Rs.


• 55,000 crore for roads and highways. Total allocation of Rs 97,000 crore for road construction under PMGSY. Shops to be given option to remain open 24*7 across markets.


• On east & west coasts, new greenfield ports will be developed. Underserved airports will be revived. For regional connectivity centre to partner with States to revive small airports.


• 100 % FDI in food processing & marketing of food products produced and marketed in India. Department of Disinvestment to be renamed as Department of Investment and Public Asset Management.


• Government to amend Motor Vehicle Act in passenger vehicle segment to allow innovation. 100% tax exemption for startups for Three years.

Agriculture

• Total allocation of Rs 35984 crore for agriculture & farmer welfare. Five lakh hectares of land will be brought under irrigation.


• Five lakh acres will be brought under organic farming over a 3 year period. Allocation of 60,000 crore rupees for recharging of ground water to focus on drought hit areas cluster development for water conservation.


• 1000 crore rupees Dedicated Irrigation Fund in NABARD. Under the PM Fasal Bima Yojna, nominal premium and highest ever compensation in case of crop loss.

 

Banking

• Allocation of Rs 25,000 crore towards recapitalisation of public sector banks. Banking Board Bureau will be operationalised.


• Govt to increase ATMs, micro-ATMs in post offices in rural areas in next 3 years General Insurance companies will be listed in the stock exchange Under MUDRA, target of disbursement increased to 1,80,000 crore.

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Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented Union Budget 2016-17