Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday presented to Parliament India's budget for the coming financial year beginning in April.
Following are the highlights of the budget:
TAXES ( Read full story on taxes )
* Standard rate of excise duty held at 10 percent
* Personal income tax exemption limit raised to 180,000 rupees
* To reduce surcharge on domestic companies to 5 percent
* To raise minimum alternate tax to 18.5 percent from 18 percent
* Direct tax proposals to cause 115 billion rupees in revenue loss
FISCAL DEFICIT
* Fiscal deficit seen at 5.1 percent of GDP in 2010-11
* Fiscal deficit seen at 4.6 percent of GDP in 2011-12
* Fiscal deficit seen at 3.5 percent of GDP in 2013-14
SPENDING
* Total expenditure in 2011-12 seen at 12.58 trillion rupees
* Plan expenditure seen at 4.41 trillion rupees in 2011-12, up 18.3 percent
REVENUE
* Gross tax receipts seen at 9.32 trillion rupees in 2011-12
* Non-tax revenue seen at 1.25 trillion rupees in 2011-12
GROWTH, INFLATION EXPECTATIONS
* Economy expected to grow at 9 percent in 2012, plus or minus 0.25 percent
* Inflation seen lower in the financial year 2011-12 ( Read story )
DISINVESTMENT
* Disinvestment in 2011-12 seen at 400 billion rupees
BORROWING
* Net market borrowing for 2011-12 seen at 3.43 trillion rupees, down from 3.45 trillion rupees in 2010-11
POLICY REFORMS
* To create infrastructure debt funds
* To boost infrastructure development with tax-free bonds of 300 billion rupees
* Food security bill to be introduced this year
* To permit SEBI registered mutual funds to access subscriptions from foreign investments
* Raised foreign institutional investor limit in 5-year corporate bonds for investment in infrastructure by $20 billion
* Public debt bill to be introduced in parliament soon
SECTOR SPENDING
* To allocate more than 1.64 trillion rupees to defence sector in 2011-12
* Corpus of rural infrastructure development fund raised to 180 billion rupees in 2011-12
* To provide 201.5 billion rupees capital infusion in state-run banks in 2011-12
* To allocate 520.5 billion rupees for the education sector
AGRICULTURE
* Removal of supply bottlenecks in the food sector will be in focus in 2011-12
* To raise target of credit flow to agriculture sector to 4.75 trillion rupees
* Gives 3 percent interest subsidy to farmers in 2011-12
* Cold storage chains to be given infrastructure status
* Capitalisation of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) of 30 billion rupees in a phased manner
* To provide 3 billion rupees for 60,000 hectares under palm oil plantation
* Actively considering new fertiliser policy for urea
ON THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY ( Read: Pranab on economy )
* "Fiscal consolidation has been impressive. This year has also seen significant progress in those critical institutional reforms that will pave the way for double digit growth in the near future."
* Food inflation remains a concern
* Current account deficit situation poses some concern
* Must ensure that private investment is sustained
* "The economy has shown remarkable resilience."
ON GOVERNANCE
* "Certain events in the past few months may have created an impression of drift in governance and a gap in public accountability ... such an impression is misplaced."
* Corruption is a problem, must fight it collectively
( Read full story on Union Budget 2011-2012 )
Read more: Highlights of Union Budget 2011-2012 - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/union-budget-2011/Highlights-of-Union-Budget-2011-2012/articleshow/7592642.cms#ixzz1FEi3Oj8e
(Source: Times Of India )
Following are the highlights of the budget:
TAXES ( Read full story on taxes )
* Standard rate of excise duty held at 10 percent
* Personal income tax exemption limit raised to 180,000 rupees
* To reduce surcharge on domestic companies to 5 percent
* To raise minimum alternate tax to 18.5 percent from 18 percent
* Direct tax proposals to cause 115 billion rupees in revenue loss
FISCAL DEFICIT
* Fiscal deficit seen at 5.1 percent of GDP in 2010-11
* Fiscal deficit seen at 4.6 percent of GDP in 2011-12
* Fiscal deficit seen at 3.5 percent of GDP in 2013-14
SPENDING
* Total expenditure in 2011-12 seen at 12.58 trillion rupees
* Plan expenditure seen at 4.41 trillion rupees in 2011-12, up 18.3 percent
REVENUE
* Gross tax receipts seen at 9.32 trillion rupees in 2011-12
* Non-tax revenue seen at 1.25 trillion rupees in 2011-12
GROWTH, INFLATION EXPECTATIONS
* Economy expected to grow at 9 percent in 2012, plus or minus 0.25 percent
* Inflation seen lower in the financial year 2011-12 ( Read story )
DISINVESTMENT
* Disinvestment in 2011-12 seen at 400 billion rupees
BORROWING
* Net market borrowing for 2011-12 seen at 3.43 trillion rupees, down from 3.45 trillion rupees in 2010-11
POLICY REFORMS
* To create infrastructure debt funds
* To boost infrastructure development with tax-free bonds of 300 billion rupees
* Food security bill to be introduced this year
* To permit SEBI registered mutual funds to access subscriptions from foreign investments
* Raised foreign institutional investor limit in 5-year corporate bonds for investment in infrastructure by $20 billion
* Public debt bill to be introduced in parliament soon
SECTOR SPENDING
* To allocate more than 1.64 trillion rupees to defence sector in 2011-12
* Corpus of rural infrastructure development fund raised to 180 billion rupees in 2011-12
* To provide 201.5 billion rupees capital infusion in state-run banks in 2011-12
* To allocate 520.5 billion rupees for the education sector
AGRICULTURE
* Removal of supply bottlenecks in the food sector will be in focus in 2011-12
* To raise target of credit flow to agriculture sector to 4.75 trillion rupees
* Gives 3 percent interest subsidy to farmers in 2011-12
* Cold storage chains to be given infrastructure status
* Capitalisation of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) of 30 billion rupees in a phased manner
* To provide 3 billion rupees for 60,000 hectares under palm oil plantation
* Actively considering new fertiliser policy for urea
ON THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY ( Read: Pranab on economy )
* "Fiscal consolidation has been impressive. This year has also seen significant progress in those critical institutional reforms that will pave the way for double digit growth in the near future."
* Food inflation remains a concern
* Current account deficit situation poses some concern
* Must ensure that private investment is sustained
* "The economy has shown remarkable resilience."
ON GOVERNANCE
* "Certain events in the past few months may have created an impression of drift in governance and a gap in public accountability ... such an impression is misplaced."
* Corruption is a problem, must fight it collectively
( Read full story on Union Budget 2011-2012 )
Read more: Highlights of Union Budget 2011-2012 - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/union-budget-2011/Highlights-of-Union-Budget-2011-2012/articleshow/7592642.cms#ixzz1FEi3Oj8e
(Source: Times Of India )
