Saturday 28 February 2015

Union Budget 2015: Highlights - Times of India

Leave a Comment
NEW DELHI: Finance minister Arun Jaitley presented the first full-year Budget of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government on Saturday.

Here are the highlights of the Union Budget 2015:


Fiscal deficit


* Fiscal deficit seen at 3.9 per cent of GDP in 2015/16


* Will meet the challenging fiscal target of 4.1 per cent of GDP


* Remain committed to meeting medium term fiscal deficit target of 3 per cent of GDP


* Current account deficit below 1.3 per cent of GDP


* Jaitley says have to keep fiscal discipline in mind despite need for higher investment


Growth


* GDP growth seen at between 8 per cent and 8.5 per cent y/y


* Aiming double digit growth rate, achievable soon


Inflation


* Expects consumer inflation to remain close to 5 per cent by March, opening room for more monetary policy easing


* Monetary policy framework agreement with the RBI clearly states objective of keeping inflation below 6 per cent


* "One of the achievements of my government has been to conquer inflation. This decline in my view represents a structural shift."



Revenues


* Revenue deficit seen at 2.8 per cent of GDP


* Non tax revenue seen at Rs 2.21 trillion


* Agricultural incomes are under stress


Disinvestment


* Government targets Rs 410 billion from stake sales in companies


* Total stake sale in 2015/16 seen at Rs 695 billion


Market reforms


* Propose to merge commodities regulator with SEBI


* To bring a new bankruptcy code


* Jaitley says will move to amend the RBI act this year, and provide for a monetary policy committee


* To set up public debt management agency


* Proposes to introduce a public contract resolution of disputes bill


* To establish an autonomous bank board bureau to improve management of public sector banks


Policy reforms


* To enact a comprehensive new law on black money


* Propose to create a universal social security system for all Indians


* To launch a national skills mission soon to enhance employability of rural youth


* To raise visa-on-arrival facility to 150 countries from 43


* Allocates Rs 346.99 billion for rural employment guarantee scheme


Borrowing


* Gross market borrowing seen at Rs 6 trillion


* Net market borrowing seen at Rs 4.56 trillion


General anti-avoidance rules (GAAR)


* Government defers rollout of anti-tax avoidance rules GAAR by two years


* GAAR to apply prospectively from April 1, 2017


* Retrospective tax provisions will be avoided


Taxation


* To abolish wealth tax


* Replaces wealth tax with additional 2 per cent surcharge on super rich


* Proposes to cut to 25 per cent corporate tax over next four years


* Corporate tax of 30 per cent is uncompetitive


* Net gain from tax proposals seen at Rs 150.68 billion


* Jaitley proposes modification of permanent establishment norms so that the mere presence of a fund manager in India would not constitute a permanent establishment of the offshore fund, resulting in adverse tax consequences.


* Proposes to rationalise capital gains tax regime for real estate investment trusts


* Expects to implement goods and services tax by April 2016


* To reduce custom duty on 22 items


* Basic custom duty on commercial vehicle doubled to 20 per cent


* Proposes to increase service tax rate and education cess to 14 per cent from 12.36 per cent


* Plans to introduce direct tax regime that is internationally competitive on rates without exemptions


* Exemptions for individual tax payers to continue


* To enact tough penalties for tax evasion in new bill


* Tax department to clarify indirect transfer of assets and dividend paid by foreign firms


Infrastructure


* Investment in infrastructure will go up by Rs 700 billion in 2015/16 over last year


* Plans to set up national investment infrastructure fund


* Proposes tax-free infrastructure bonds for projects in roads, rail and irrigation projects


* Proposes 5 "ultra mega" power projects for 4,000MW each


* Second unit of Kudankulam nuclear power station to be commissioned


* Will need to build additional 100,000km of road


* Ports in public sector will be encouraged to corporatise under Companies Act


Expenditure


* Plan expenditure estimated at about Rs 4.65 trillion


* Non-plan expenditure seen at about Rs 13.12 trillion


* Allocates Rs 2.46 trillion for defence spending


* Allocates Rs 331.5 billion for health sector


* If revenue improves, hope to raise budgeted allocations for rural job scheme by Rs 50 billion


Investment


* Propose to do away with different types of foreign investment caps and replace them with composite caps


* To allow foreign investment in alternative investment funds


* Public investment needed to catalyse investment


Gold


* To develop a sovereign gold bond


* To introduce gold monetisation scheme to allow depositors to earn interest


* To introduce Indian-made gold coin to reduce demand for foreign gold coins


Subsidies


* Food subsidy seen at Rs 1.24 trillion


* Fertiliser subsidy seen at Rs 729.69 billion


* Fuel subsidy seen at Rs 300 billion


* We are committed to subsidy rationalisation based on cutting leakages


Finance minister's comments


* "We inherited a sentiment of doom and gloom. The investment community had almost written us off. We have come a long way since then."


* "We have turned around the economy, dramatically restoring macroeconomic stability and creating the conditions for sustainable poverty elimination, job creation, durable double digit economic growth."


* "While being mindful of the challenges ... this gives us reason to feel optimistic."


* "Domestic and international investors are seeing us with renewed interest and hope."



http://ift.tt/1mUub5g Budget 2015: Highlights,Union Budget 2015,Union Budget


Stay updated on the go with Times of India News App. Click here to download it for your device.


This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.






from Top Stories - Google News http://ift.tt/1N40AoY

via IFTTT

0 comments:

Post a Comment