Highlights of Union Budget 2018 – 19 Part-2

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Highlights of Union Budget 2018 – 19 Part-2:

Railways

For FY 2018-19 Railway capital expenditure has been estimated Rs. 1, 48, 528 crore.
Adequate number of rolling stock – 12000 wagons, 5160 coaches and approximately 700 locomotives are being procured in FY 208-19.
More than 3600 kms of track renewal is targeted during the current fiscal.
Redevelopment of 600 major railway stations has proposed.
For Mumbai local train network a corpus of Rs. 11, 000 crore has proposed for double line track of 90 kms.
150 kms of additional suburban network is being planned, for this more than Rs. 40, 000 crore has allocated.

Air Transport

The budget proposed to expand the airport capacity more than five times under a new initiative – NABH Nirman.
Under the regional capacity of UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) started by Govt. last year.
56 unserved airports and 31 unserved helipads would be connected.

Finance

The Finance Minister requested the Regulators to move the ratings of bonds from “AA” to “A” for investment eligibility in bond market.
will establish a unified authority for regulating all financial services in International Finance Service Centre (IFSCs) in India.

Digital Economy

NITI Aayog will initiate a national programme to direct efforts in artificial intelligence.
Department of Science & Technology will launch a mission on Cyber Physical Systems.
This year double budget allocated on Digital India Programme. For this a corpus of Rs. 3073 crore has allocated.
The Finance Minister allocated Rs. 1, 000 crore in FY 2018-19 for creation and augmentation of Telecom Infrastructure.
proposed to set up five Lakh Wi-Fi hotspot setups in order to provide connectivity to five crore rural citizens.

Defence

Govt proposed to develop two defence industrial production corridors.
Industry friendly Defence Production Policy 2018 to be brought out to promote domestic production by Public sector, Private sectors and MSMEs.
A new scheme has announced by Finance minister to assign every individual enterprise in India a Unique ID on the lines of Aadhaar.

Disinvestment

Govt set the disinvestment target of Rs. 80, 000 crore for FY 2018-19.
Three Public Sector Insurance Companies – National Insurance Co. Ltd., United India Assurance Co. Ltd. And Oriental India Insurance Co. Ltd. Will be merged into a single insurance entity.
The Finance Minister announced a comprehensive Gold Policy will be formulated to develop gold as an asset class.
The Govt. will also establish a system of consumer friendly and trade efficient system of regulated gold exchanges in the country.
Gold Monetization Scheme will be revamped to enable people to open a hassle-free Gold Deposit Account.

In this Budget emoluments have been revised as following:

5 Lakh per month for President.
4 Lakh per month for Vice President.
3.5 Lakh per month to Governor.

To celebrate the 150^th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the budget has allocated of Rs. 150 crore for the activities leading to the commemoration programme.

Fiscal Management

The Budget estimates the expenditure of Rs. 21.47 Lakh crore in FY 2018-19.
The Finance Minister projected the Fiscal Deficit of 3.3% of GDP for the FY 2018-19.
He also proposed acceptance of key recommendations of the Fiscal Reform and Budget Management Committee to bring down Central Government’s Debt to GDP ratio to 40%.
There is 100% deduction to companies registered as Farmer Producer Companies with annual turnover upto Rs. 100 crore for a period of five years from FY 2018-19
There is 30% deduction in direct tax Under Section 80-JJAA to encourage the creation of new employment.

Relief to Senior Citizens has also been proposed. The proposals are as following –

Exemption on interest income deposits with bank and post offices are to be increased from Rs. 10, 000 to Rs. 50, 000. This benefit will also extend to the interest from all fixed deposit schemes and recurring deposit schemes.
Hike in deduction limit for health insurance premium or medical expenditure from Rs. 30, 000 to Rs. 50, 000 under section 80D.
Increase in deduction limit for medical expenditure for certain critical illness from Rs. 60, 000 (in case of senior citizens) and from Rs. 80, 000 (in case of very senior citizens) to Rs. 1 Lakh for all senior citizens, under section 80DDB.
It is also proposed to extend the Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana upto March 2020.
The current investment limit is also proposed to be increased to Rs. 15 Lakh from the existing limit of Rs. 7.5 Lakh per senior citizen.
More concession also proposed for International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), in order to promote trade in stock exchanges located in IFSC.

In order to control the cash economy, the payment exceeding Rs. 10, 000 in cash made by trusts and institutions shall be disallowed and would be subject to tax.

In order to improve TDS compliance, the Finance Minister has proposed non deduction of tax, 30% of the amount shall be disallowed and would be taxed.

Finance Minister has proposed Long Term Capital Gain Tax at the rate of 10% if Capital Gain exceeds from Rs. 1 Lakh, without allowing any indexation benefit.

10% tax also proposed on distributed income by equity oriented Mutual Funds, Growth oriented funds and dividend distributing funds.

To take care of education and health care requirements of Below Poverty Line (BPL) and rural families, the Budget proposed to increment the cess on personal income tax and corporation tax to 4% from 3%. And this new cess will be known as “Health and Education Cess”. The objective of this Cess is to collect estimated additional amount of Rs. 11, 000 crore.

Indirect Tax

This is the first budget after the roll out of GST (Goods and Service Tax).

The Finance Minister has proposed some changes in custom duty for various purposes:-

Creation of more jobs in the country
To incentivise domestic value addition and Make in India in Sectors such as Food Processing, Electronics, Auto Components, Footwear and Furniture.
Custom duty on mobile phones from 15% to 20% on some of their parts and accessories to 15% and on certain parts of television to 15%.
Custom duty is proposed to be reduced on raw cashew from 5% to 2.5%. The objective of this reduction is to help the cashew processing industry.

In this Budget Finance Minister has proposed to abolish the Education Cess and Secondary and Higher Education Cess on Imported goods. The Education Cess is replaced with a “Social Welfare Surcharge” which is 10% of the aggregate duties of customs, on imported Goods; this is to provide for social welfare schemes of the Government.

Additional surcharge at the rate of 3% of the aggregate duties of the custom only will be applicable on certain specified goods mentioned in Annexure 6 of the Budget.

Along with roll out of GST, the Budget also proposes to change the name of CBEC (Central Board of Excise and Customs) to the (CBIC) Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs.