India’s first women Union Finance Minister in almost five decades, Nirmala Sitharaman has presented her maiden union budget, under BJP government for financial year 2019-20. The budget session of Lok sabha has started on June 17, 2019 and will last till July 26, 2019. Ahead of budget presentation today, the chief economic advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian presented the economic survey on India on July 4, 2019.
Central Budget 2019 Highlights:
Here is a look at the major highlights of budget 2019 presented by Nirmala Sitharaman.
About Union budget 2019 highlights, the announcements related to Indian railways, railway spending, railway budget will be included in budget 2019 speech. Features of union budget 2019 includes important announcements about agriculture, indirect taxes, digital payments, affordable housing, start-ups, FDI, capital infusion in PSU banks, education, swachh Bharat, etc., Market participants , economists, middle-income groups, corporate and people were waited to know about the policy changes, tax reforms and other major highlights of central budget 2019-20.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, (who is the second woman finance minister of India after Indira Gandhi) presented the Union Budget 2019-20, which is also the first budget of the new Prime Minister Narendra Modi government. The overall size (amount government proposes to spend) of Budget 2019-20 is estimated to be Rs 27,86,349 crore, which is 13 per cent more than the budget presented last year.
The Union Budget 2019-20 mainly focused on Make in India, Blue Economy, water management, clean rivers, space programmes, self-sufficiency and export of food grains, pulses, oilseeds, fruits etc., healthy society with the help of Ayushman Bharat, well-nourished women & children, safety of citizens etc.,
Taxes
- No change in personal income tax rates
- Income upto Rs. 5 lakh exempted from Income Tax
- Additional Rs 1.5 lakh tax relief on home loan for purchase of a house up to Rs 45 lakh.
- Custom duty hike on fuel by 1 rupee, gold and precious items; Petrol & diesel to get costlier.
- 3% surcharge on an income of Rs 2 crore; 7% on Rs 5 crore and above.
- Corporate tax with turnover of up to Rs 400 crore slashed to 25 per cent from a current rate of 30 per cent.
- Inter changeability of PAN and Aadhaar for ITR for those who don’t have PAN cards.
- Advises GST Council to reduce tax rate on EVs from 12 per cent to 5 per cent.
- Duty has been raised on: tiles, cashew kernels, vinyl flooring, auto parts, some synthetic rubber, digital and video recorder and CCTV camera.
- Faceless income tax assessment in electronic mode involving no human interface to be launched this year in a phased manner, to reduce taxpayer harassment
- Rs 350 crore allocated for 2% interest subvention for all GST-registered MSMEs on fresh or incremental loans.
- A simplified single monthly return being rolled out; taxpayers with annual turnover less than 5 crore need to file only quarterly returns.
- Fully automated GST Refund module shall be implemented; multiple tax ledgers to be replaced by one; invoice details to be captured in a central system.
- 5% customs duty being imposed on imported books, to promote domestic publishing and printing industry
Affordable housing
- Rental laws to be reformed.
- Modern tenancy laws will be shared with states to promote house renting.
To promote digital payments
- 2% TDS on withdrawals of Rs 1 crore in a year from your bank account for business payments.
- No charge on digital payments: MDR charges waived on cashless payment.
- Business establishments with annual turnover more than 50 crore rupees may offer low-cost digital payments; no charges or merchant discount rates to be imposed on customers or merchants for these.
Ease of living
- Aadhaar card for NRIs on arrival in India.
- Rs 3,000 pension per month for workers from the informal sector.
Transportation
- Inter-operable One Nation One transport card: ATM-like Transport card for universal travel on various modes of transport (metro, road, railways etc).
- Government plans to create MRO (Manufacturing, Repair and Operate) industry.
- PPP to be used to unleash faster development and the delivery of passenger freight services.
- Comprehensive restructuring of National Highways Programme for creation of National Highways Grid.
- Government envisions using rivers for cargo transport to decongest roads and railways.
- Comprehensive restructuring of National Highways Programme to be done, to ensure creation of National Highways Grid of desirable capacity. Government envisions using rivers for cargo transportation, which will also decongest roads and railways.
- The government has given a massive push to all forms of physical connectivity via PMGSY, Industrial corridors, Dedicated freight corridors, Bharatmala, Sagarmala, Jal Marg vikas and UDAN schemes.
Economy
- Fiscal deficit in FY 19 at 3.3% of the GDP.
- Government will start raising part of borrowing in foreign currency.
- Government external debt to GDP is among the lowest in the world.
- A new series of coins of Re 1, ₹2, ₹5, ₹10, ₹20 easily identifiable to the visually impaired were released by the PM on 7th March 2019. These coins will be made available for public use shortly.
- Four new embassies to be opened in 2019-20, to improve footprint of India’s overseas presence and to provide better public services to local Indian communities
Swachh Bharat Mission
- Proposal to expand Swachh Bharat mission to undertake solid waste management in every village.
- India to be open defecation free (ODF) by October 2 2019.
- To mark this occasion, Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra to be inaugurated at Raj Ghat, on the same day.
Gandhi-pedia
- ‘Gandhi-pedia’ too to be developed on the lines of Encyclopedia to help promote Gandhian school of thought.
Women empowerment
- Nari tu Narayani: Women SHG Interest Subvention Programme to be expanded to all districts in India.
- One woman in every SHG shall be made eligible for a loan of 1 lakh rupees under MUDRA scheme.
- Every verified woman SHG member having a Jan Dhan account can avail Rs 5,000 rupees overdraft facility.
Banking reform
- On purchase of high-rate pooled assets of NBFC amounting of Rs 1 lakh core in this FY, Government will provide one-time 6 month credit guarantee.
- Propose to provide Rs 70,000 crore capital for PSU Banks.
- Regulation of HFCs (Housing Finance Cos) to move to RBI from National Housing Bank.
- PSBs will use technology, enabling customer of one PSB to access service across all PSBs as well.
Divestment
- Government to modify present policy of retaining 51% stake in PSUs.
- Government to continue with strategic divestment of select CPSEs.
- Divestment target of Rs 1.05 lakh crore for FY 20.
Railways
- A new PPP model will usher in the a new dawn of Indian railways.
- Railways to be encouraged to invest more in suburban rail network via SPVs.
- Railway infrastructure will need an investment of Rs 50 lakh crore between 2018 and 2030.
- Massive programme of railway station modernization to be launched in 2019
- 657 km of metro rail network has become operational in the country.
MSME
- Propose easing angel tax for startups.
- Angel tax: will not require scrutiny from I-T department for startup.
- 2% interest subvention for GST-registered MSME on fresh or incremental loans.
- ‘Stand Up India’ Scheme to continue till 2025.
- New television channel for start-ups.
- Pension benefit extended to retail traders with annual turnover less than Rs 1.5 crore.
- New payment platform for MSMEs to be created.
Education
- Government to launch ‘Study in India’ programme to attract foreign students in higher education.
- Allocate Rs 400 crore for world-class higher education institutions in FY 20.
- National research foundation to fund, coordinate and to promote research in the country.
- New Higher Education Commission with focus on higher autonomy.
- New national education policy to propose changes in school, higher education.
- 80 Livelihood business incubators and 20 technology business incubators to be set up in 2019-20 under ASPIRE to develop 75,000 skilled entrepreneurs in agro-rural industries.
- Increase focus on skill sets required by the youth to apply for job opportunities abroad like language skills and artificial intelligence (AI).
- We propose to start a television programme on DD National, exclusively for startups. This programme will be designed and executed by startup’s themselves.
Tourism
- 17 iconic world-class tourist sites to be developed.
FDI
- Local sourcing norms will be relaxed for the single-brand retail sector.
- Government to open FDI in aviation, insurance, animation AVGC and media.
Investment
- Existing KYC norms for FPIs to be rationalized and simplified to make it more investor-friendly.
- Long-term bonds for market.
- To allow FIIs & FPIs investment in debt securities issued by NBFCs.
- Credit Guarantee Enhancement Corporation to be set up long-term bonds with specific focus on infra sector
- Propose Social Stock Exchange under SEBI for listing social enterprises & voluntary organisations.
- To merge NRI portfolio route with FPI route.
- To hike statutory limit for foreign investment in some companies.
- To set up a credit guarantee enhancement corporation.
- Government will take up measures to make RBI & SEBI depositories inter-operable.
- SEBI to mull increasing minimum public shareholding to 35% from 25%.
- User friendliness of trading platforms for corporate bonds will be reviewed, including issues arising out of capping of International Securities Identification Number.
- To deepen corporate tri-party repo market in corporate debt securities. Plan to enable stock exchanges to allow AA rated bonds as collateral.
- Annual Global Investors’ Meet for attracting global players to come and invest in India.
- To allow FPIs to subscribe to listed debt papers of REITs.
Auto sector
- Government has already moved GST council to lower the GST rate on electric vehicles (EV) from 12% to 5%.
- Government will provide Rs 1.5 lakh income tax deduction on interest payments on loan taken for purchase of electric vehicles.
- FAME II scheme aims to encourage faster adoption of electric vehicles through the right incentives and charging infrastructure.
- Customs duty on certain parts of electric vehicles being exempted to promote e-mobility
For Rural India
- Gaon, Garib and Kisan are the focus of our government.
- New Jal Shakti ministry will work with states to ensure Har Ghar Jal for all rural houses by 2024.
- Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana phase 3 is envisaged to upgrade 1,25,000 km of road length over the next 5 years.
- Government will set up 100 new clusters for 50,000 artisans in FY 20.
- To invest Rs 80,250 cr for upgradation of roads under PM Gram Sadak Yojana.
- Every single rural family, except those unwilling, to have electricity by 2022.
Agriculture
- Government to promote innovative zero Budget farming.
- 10,000 new farm produce organisations.
- 80 Livelihood business incubators and 20 technology business incubators to be set up in 2019-20 under ASPIRE to develop 75,000 skilled entrepreneurs in agro-rural industries.
Space
- India has emerged as a major space power. It is time to harness our ability commercially.
- A public sector enterprise, New Space India Limited (NSIL) has been incorporated to tap benefits of ISRO.
Sports
- To popularise sports at all levels, National Sports Education Board for development of sportspersons to be set up under ‘Khelo India.’