The key highlights of the Interim Budget 2019-20 presented by the Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs, Railways & Coal, Shri Piyush Goyal in Parliament today are as follows:
New Announcements
Farmers
- 12 crore small and marginal farmers to be provided with an assured yearly income of Rs. 6000 per annum under PM-KISAN
o Outlay of Rs. 75,000 crore for FY 2019-20 with additional Rs. 20,000 crore in RE 2018-19
- Outlay for Rashtriya Gokul mission increased to Rs 750 crore
- Rashtriya Kamdhenu Ayog to be setup for sustainable genetic up-gradation of the Cow resources
- New separate Department of Fisheries for welfare of 1.5 crore fishermen
- 2% interest subvention to Farmers for Animal husbandry and Fisheries activities; additional 3% in case of timely repayment.
- Interest subvention of 2% during disaster will now be provided for the entire period of re-schedulement of loan.
Labour
- Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan scheme to ensure fixed monthly pension to 10 crore unorganized sector workers
o Rs 3000 per month after 60 years of age with an affordable contribution of only Rs 100/55 per month
Health
- 22nd AIIMS to be setup in Haryana
MGNREGA
- Rs. 60, 000 crore allocation for MGNREGA in BE 2019-20
Direct Tax proposals
- Income upto Rs. 5 lakh exempted from Income Tax
- More than Rs. 23,000 crore tax relief to 3 crore middle class taxpayers
- Standard Deduction to be raised to Rs. 50,000 from Rs. 40,000
- TDS threshold to be raised from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 40,000 on interest earned on bank/post office deposits
- Existing rates of income tax to continue
- Tax exempted on notional rent on a second self-occupied house
- Housing and real estate sector to get boost-
o TDS threshold for deduction of tax on rent to be increased from Rs. 1,80,000 to Rs. 2,40,000
o Benefit of rollover of capital gains increased from investment in one residential house to two residential houses for capital gains up to Rs. 2 crore.
o Tax benefits for affordable housing extended till 31st March, 2020 under Section 80-IBA of Income Tax Act
o Tax exemption period on notional rent, on unsold inventories, extended from one year to two years
Fiscal Programme
- Fiscal deficit pegged at 3.4% of GDP for 2019-20
- Target of 3% of fiscal deficit to be achieved by 2020-21.
- Fiscal deficit brought down to 3.4% in 2018-19 RE from almost 6% seven years ago
- Total expenditure increased by over 13% to Rs.27,84,200 crore in 2019-20 BE
- Capital Expenditure for 2019-20 BE estimated at Rs. 3,36,292 crore
- Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) allocation increased to Rs. 3,27,679 crore in BE 2019-20
- National Education Mission allocation increased by about 20% to Rs. 38,572 crore in BE 2019-20
- Allocation for Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) increased by over 18% to Rs. 27,584 crore in BE 2019-20
- Substantial increase in allocation for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes –
o Allocation for SCs increased by 35.6% – from Rs. 56,619 crore in BE 2018-19 to Rs. 76,801 crore in BE for 2019-20
o Allocation for the STs increased by 28% – from 39,135 crore in BE 2018-19 to Rs. 50,086 crore in 2019-20 BE
- Government confident of achieving the disinvestment target of 80,000 crore
- Focus now on debt consolidation along with fiscal deficit consolidation programme
Poor and Backward Classes
- “First right on the resources of country is that of the poor”: FM
- 25% additional seats in educational institutions to meet the 10% reservation for the poor
- Targeted expenditure to bridge urban-rural divide & to improve quality of life in villages
- All willing households to be provided electricity connections by March 2019
North East
- Allocation to be increased by 21% to Rs. 58,166 crore in 2019-20 BE over 2018-19 BE
- Arunachal Pradesh came on the air map recently
- Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram came on India’s rail map for the first time
- Container cargo movement through improved navigation capacity of the Brahmaputra
Vulnerable sections
- A new committee under NITI Ayog to identify all the remaining De-notified nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes.
- New Welfare development Board under Ministry of social justice and empowerment for development and welfare of De-notified nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes
Defence
- Defence budget to cross Rs 3,00,000 crore for the first time ever
Railways
- Capital support of Rs.64,587 crore proposed in 2019-20 (BE) from the budget
- Overall capital expenditure programme to be of Rs. 1,58,658 crore
- Operating Ratio expected to improve from 98.4% in 2017-18
to 96.2% in 2018-19 (RE) and
to 95% in 2019- 20 (BE)
Entertainment Industry
- Indian filmmakers to get access to Single window clearance as well for ease of shooting films
- Regulatory provisions to rely more on self-declaration
- To introduce anti-camcording provisions in the Cinematograph Act to control piracy
MSME and Traders
- 2% interest subvention on an incremental loan of Rs 1 crore for GST registered SMEs
- Atleast 3% of the 25% sourcing for the Government undertakings will be from women-owned SMEs
- Renewed Focus on Internal trade; DIPP renamed to Department for Promotion of Industries and Internal trade
Digital Villages
- The Government to make 1 lakh villages into Digital Villages over next five years.
Detailed Budget–Notification
Ministry of Finance