India’s Union Finance Budget 2017-18 | Live Updates

Last Updated : Feb. 1, 2017, 11:12 a.m.

The Finance Minister Mr Arun Jaitely will present the Union Budget today for the financial year 2017-18 at 11AM from the Lok Sabha. This will be the first time that Railway Budget is going to be presented alongwith the Union Budget. The ten themes as stated by the Finance Minister which lay the crux of this Union Finance Budget are – Farmers, Rural population,Youth, Poor and the underprivileged, Infrastructure, Financial sector, Digital economy, Public services –effective governance, Prudent fiscal management and Tax administration

Highlights of Union Budget 2017-18

• Target for Agri Credit – ₹ 10 Lakh Crore for this year.
• Agri sector expected to grow by 4.1% this year.
• Irrigation funds under NABARD to be increased by ₹ 20,000 Cr.
• MNREGA allocation increased from ₹ 38,500 Cr to ₹ 48,000 Cr.
• Affordable housing to be redefined.
• 1 Cr houses to be completed by the end of 2019.
• Two new AIIMS to be set up in Gujarat and Jharkhand.

This budget contains 3 major reforms. The merger with the railway budget is a miraculous step

– Arun Jaitely

Railways and Transport

• ₹ 1.31 Lakh Crore to be the capital expenditure for Railways.
• ₹ 100,000 Crore safety fund corpus to be created over 5 years.
• 500 more railway stations to be made differently abled friendly.
• No service charge on rail E-Tickets.
• Allocation for National Highways – ₹ 64000 Crores .
• Record allocation for Infrastructure – ₹ 3,96,135 Cr. This is the biggest ever allocation for this sector till date.

A new metro rail policy will be announced, this will open up new jobs for our youth

– Arun Jaitley

• ₹ 500 crore allocated to set up Mahila Shakti Kendras; Allocation raised from Rs 1.56 lakh crore to Rs 1.84 lakh crore for women and child welfare.

IRCTC, IRFC, IRCON to be listed in stock exchanges

– Arun Jaitely

• 3.5 crore youth will be trained under Sankalp program launched by the government
• 10 Lakh new PoS terminals in the next 2 months.
• ₹10,000 Cr. for recapitalisation of banks.
• For Defence the expenditure excluding pension is ₹ 2,74,114
• Defense capital expenditure budget – ₹ 86000 Cr.
• Fiscal Deficit pegged at 3.2 % of GDP in 2017-18 versus the earlier estimate of 3%.

By end of 2017-18, high speed broadband connectivity on optic fibres will be available in more than 1,50,000 gram panchayats

– Arun Jaitely

• Total expenditure: ₹ 21.47 lakh crore. Science – ₹ 37,435 crore, Defence expenditure – ₹ 2.74 lakh crore, States, UTs – ₹ 4.11 lakh crore, Revenue deficit – 1.9%, India targets FY18 budget deficit at 3.2% of GDP

• Affordable housing size for tax relief up by 30%.

• Holding period for LTCG for Land and Building reduced to 2 years .

• Reduce income tax for companies with a turnover of ₹50 Crore by 5%.

• 6% presumptive tax for turnover upto ₹2 Crores.

• No cash transaction above ₹3 Lakh will be allowed.

Demonetisation led to a 34.8% increase in personal income tax declarations. The surge in personal income declarations has never before been seen in the history of India.

– Arun Jaitely

Government’s direction to all the Political parties

• Max cash donation  from a single source would be ₹2000.
• Parties can get donations via cheque or digital medium only.
• 3 step program for a cleaner political funding.

Taxes

• One page income tax proposed.
• Out of 3.7 Crore who filed the taxe returns in 2015-16, only 24 lakh persons showed having an income of ₹10 Lakh or more.
• Of 76 Lakh who reported having an income of over ₹5 lakh , 56 lakh individuals are salaried.
• Tax rate for those having income ₹2.5 L – 5L are slashed to 5% from 10% .
• Tax rate for those having income ₹5 L – 10L are still at 20% but with a rebate of ₹12,500.
• 15% surcharge on income over ₹1Cr to continue.
• All other categories of tax payers will get a benefit of ₹12,000 per person.
• 10% surcharge if your annual income is between ₹50L – 1Cr.
• Basic customs duty reduced from 5% to 2.5% on LNG terminals.

No scrutiny for new filer for first year if nothing is suspicious.

– Arun Jaitely

Digital Infrastructure

• ₹10,000 Crore allocated for BharatNet.
• High-speed internet  fibres to reach 1,50,000 villages in 2017.