Following are the highlights of Union Budget 2017, presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament:
1. Tax rates halved to 5% for income of Rs 2.5-5 lakh, tax slabs unchanged
2. 10% surcharge on people earning between Rs 50 lakh-1 cr
3. 15% surcharge on annual income above Rs 1 cr to continue
4. Cash transactions above Rs 3 lakh to banned
5. Corporate tax for SMEs with turnover up to Rs 50 cr cut to 25%; 96% companies to benefit
6. Customs duty of LNG halved to 2.5%
7. Fiscal deficit pegged at 3.2% next year, 3% in FY’19
8. Political parties barred from accepting cash donation beyond Rs 2,000 per individual
9. They can receive donations via cheques, electronic mode; electoral bonds to be issued by RBI
10. Aadhaar-based health cards for senior citizens; a scheme for them to ensure 8 pc guaranteed returns
11. FIPB to be abolished; further FDI policy liberalisation
12. Government to have time-bound procedure for CPSE listing
13. Railway PSUs — IRCTC, IRFC, IRCON to be listed
14. Payment Regulatory Board to be set up within RBI to regulate digital payments
15. Negotiable instruments Act to be amended to deal with cheque bounce cases
16. Legislative changes to confiscate of assets of economic offenders who flee country
17. Demonetisation bold, decisive measure; to help GDP growth, taxes mop up to rise
18. Effect of demonetisation not to spill over to next year
19. GST, demonetisation ‘tectonic changes’ for economy
20. Service charges on e-tickets booked via IRCTC waived
21. Capital expenditure of Railway fixed at Rs 1.31 lakh cr
22. Rail safety fund of Rs 1 lakh cr over 5 years, unmanned level crossing to be eliminated by 2020
23. Budget based on 3 agenda — Transform, Energise, Clean India (TECIndia).
24. 3 yr period for long-term capital gains tax on immovable property reduced to 2 years; base year indexation shifted from April 1, 1981 to April 1, 2001
25. Disinvestment target at Rs 72,500 cr, up from 56,500 cr
26. Gross market borrowing pegged at Rs 6.05 lakh cr
27. Duty exempted on POS machines and Iris readers for encouraging digital payments
28. Tax benefits for Start ups to be for 3 out of 7 yrs
29. FPI to be exempt from indirect transfer provision
30. Integrated public sector oil major to be created to match global giants
31. Direct Tax collection growth 15.8%, indirect tax 8.3%
32. Total expenditure pegged at Rs 21.47 lakh crore
33. Capital expenditure up 24%; to have multiplier effect
34. Allocation to states hiked to Rs 4.11 cr
35. FRBM Committee suggests Debt-GDP ratio of 60% by 2020
36. Retail inflation to remain within 2-6 pc
37. 2 new AIIMS to come up in Jharkhand, Gujarat
38. Highest ever allocation of Rs 48,000 cr to MNREGA
39. Farm sector to grow at 4.1% this fiscal, to double farm income in five years
40. Farm credit target for next fiscal at Rs 10 lakh crore
41. Fasal Bima yojana increased to 40% of crop area; raised to Rs 1.41 lakh crore in Kharif 2017 season
42. Infrastructure investment pegged at Rs 3.96 lakh cr
43. To double irrigation fund corpus to Rs 40,000 cr
44. Infrastructure status accorded affordable housing
45. Dairy processing fund with Rs 2000cr corpus to be set up
46. Rs 1.84 lakh cr allocated for women, child initiatives
47. Rs 1.87 lakh cr allocated to rural, agri, allied sectors
48. 1 crore houses by 2019 for homeless
49. PM Awas Yojana allocation up from Rs 15,000 cr to Rs 23,000 cr
50. 100% village electrification to be achieved by May 2018
51. Rs 31,920 cr allocated for Scheduled Tribes, Rs 4,195 cr minority affairs, outcome based budgeting to start
52. Road sector allocation hiked to Rs 64,000 cr
53. Innovation Fund to be created for Secondary Education
54. Allocation of Rs 2.41 lakh crore rail, road, shipping to create jobs, spur economic activity
55. New metro rail policy to be announced
56. New crude oil reserves proposed at Odisha and Rajasthan; to take strategic reserve capacity to 15.33 mmt
57. India on cusp of digital revolution
58. FDI increased 35 pc to Rs 1.45 lakh crore in H1 FY’17.
