The government budget is an annual financial statement presenting government revenues & spending for the financial year, prepared on the basis of an economic survey. Indian Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, presented the union budget on February 1, 2018.
Highlights of the budget:
The government’s emphasis will be on generating higher incomes for farmers. MSP for Kharif crops to be 1.5X of cost of produce.
Operation Green- A sum of Rs. 500 crore will be allocated for operation Green to be launched. It will promote agricultural products.
5 lakh medical insurance cover per year for 10 crore families across the country.
Government to evolve a scheme to assign a unique ID for companies.
Fiscal situation- Fiscal deficit is 3.5% of GDP at Rs. 5.95 lakh crore in 2017-18. Projecting fiscal deficit to be 3.3% of GDP in next year.
Personal Income tax- No change in the personal income tax slab rates.
51 lakh new tax payers filed income tax returns in FY 17.
Standard deduction of Rs. 40,000 for the salaried taxpayers.
Surcharges of 10% on income above Rs. 50 lakh but less than Rs. 1 crore and 15% on income above Rs. 1 crore to be continued next year.
Corporate tax of 25% extended to companies with turnover upto Rs. 250 crore.
Long term capital gains (LTCG) exceeding Rs. 1 lakh will be taxed at 10% without indexing and short term capital gains (STCG) remains at 15%.
Health, Education cess at 4%.
FM announces setting up of one medical college for every 3 parliamentary constituencies with 24 new government medical colleges also being envisioned.
Changes made in customs and excise duty, to provide a fillip to ‘Make in India’.
The farmers, rural economy and the older demographics stand to gain most from this budget. The government does not consider crypto currencies as legal tender but will surely explore the use of block chain technologies. The details on how the healthcare scheme will work are still to be worked out. Reduction in corporate tax to 25% from 30% across the board would have led to expected economic growth. The budget is well structured but on the other side there is a struggle for basic needs like agriculture and food.
