Budget 2020 themes: Aspirational India, Economic Development and Caring for society

NEW DELHI: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam on Feb 1, Saturday tabled the Union Budget for 2020-2021.

She remembered late Finance Minister Arun Jaitley as she tabled this year's budget.

Sitharam thanked and credited the late minister for a successful rollout of the GST and said, "At the time of rollout of the GST, he had said: 'It will be an India where the Centre and states will work together towards to common goal of shared prosperity.

The unanimity of the constitutional amendment and the consensus of the GST Council highlights that India can rise above narrow politics for the nation’s interest. With the GST, neither the state nor the Centre loses its sovereignty.'"

GST has resulted in efficiency gains in the transport and logistics sector, inspector raj has vanished, it has benefitted MSME Consumers have got an annual benefit of 1 lakh crore rupees by GST, she said.

This year’s budget is woven around three themes which are — Aspirational India, Economic Development for All and Ours shall be a caring society.

Some of the key highlights and takeaways from this year's budget are as follows:

Tax

Major tax relief for individuals

Income between Rs. 5-7.5 lakh – Tax rate 10%

Income between Rs. 7.5-10 lakh – Tax rate 15%

Income between Rs 10-12.5 lakh – Tax rate brought down to 20% from 30%

• A system to be launched, for instant online allotment of PAN on the basis of Aadhaar,

• Registration of charity institutions to be made completely electronic, donations made to be pre-filled in IT return form to claim exemptions for donations easily

• Aadhaar-based verification of taxpayers is being introduced

Agriculture, Farming, Fisheries

• Agriculture will be a priority. Comprehensive measures for 100 water-stressed districts being proposed.

• PM KUSUM to be expanded to provide 20 lakh farmers in setting up standalone solar pumps.

• Farmers who have fallow or barren land will be helped to set up solar power generation units and also sell surplus power to the solar grid and also make living out of even barren land.

• Balanced use of all fertilizers will be encouraged. It is important to change the incentive regime which encourages excessive use of chemical fertilizers.

• Youth and fishery extension work to be enabled by rural youth as Sagar Mitras, forming 500 fish farmer producing organizations.

• Supporting states to focus on one product for one district so as to make way for Horticulture to gain momentum

Energy Sector

• Large solar power capacity to be set up alongside rail tracks, on land owned by Railways

• More Tejas-type trains to connect iconic destinations

• 22,000 crore rupees to be given to power and renewable energy sector in 2020-21

• UTs asked to replace conventional energy meters by pre-paid smart meters in 3 years, this will give consumers the freedom to choose supplier and rate as per their requirements

• Parameters and incentives to be provided to states who institute measures for cleaner air in cities above 1 million population – 4,400 crore rupees allocated for this

Transport

• 1.7 lakh crore rupees to be provided to transport infrastructure

• 100 more airports to be developed by 2024 to support the UDAN scheme

Education

• 99,300 crore rupees to be provided for the education sector in 2020-21 and 3,000 crore rupees for skill development

• IND-SAT exam to be held in African and Asian countries, for benchmarking foreign candidates who wish to study in Country.

Textile & Industry

• Rs 27,300 crore rupees for the development of industry and commerce

• National Technical Textiles Mission to be introduced, with a four-year implementation period, with an outlay of 1,480 crore rupees

• To boost startups, tax burden on employees due to tax on Employee Stock Options to be deferred by five years or till they leave the company or when they sell, whichever is earliest

Tourism & Culture

• 2,500 crore rupees to be allocated for tourism promotion, in 2020-21

• 3,150 crore rupees to be provided for Ministry of Culture in 2020-21

• Five archaeological sites to be developed as iconic sites with on-site museums. Haryana: Rakhigarhi UP: Hastinapur Assam: Shivsagar Gujarat: Dholavira Tamil Nadu: Adichanallur

Health & Nutrition

• 35,600 crore rupees for nutrition-related programmes in 2020-21

• Additional Rs 69,000 for the health sector

Infrastructure

• About 22,000 crore rupees already provided for supporting National Infrastructure Pipeline

Debt

• Central govt’s debt has come down to 48.7% in March, 2019 from 52.2% in March, 2014.

Citizen benefit for SC, ST, OBC, senior citizens

• 85,000 crore rupees for SC and OBC in 2020-21 53,700 crore rupees for ST. Enhanced allocation of 9,500 crore rupees for Senior citizens and Divyangs

• Rs 53,700 crore for development and welfare of Scheduled Tribes.

J&K

• 30,757 crore rupees for Union Terrritory of Jammu & Kashmir 5,958 crore rupees for Union Terrritory of Ladakh

Other

• Govt. proposes to sell part of its holding in Life Insurance Corporation by way of Initial Public Offering.

•Nominal GDP growth for the year 2020-21 estimated at 10%, on the basis of trends available

•India will host G20 Presidency in 2022, 100 crore rupees to be allocated for making preparations.

• “Make in India’ is doing well. More focus on ‘Make in India’ to make it more profitable

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