Highlight Pointers of Union Budget 2017-18

Fiscal Situation

• Total expenditure is Rs 2147800 crore.
• Plan, non-plan expenditure to be abolished; focus will be on capital expenditure, which will be 25.4%.
• Rs 3000 crore under the Department of Economic Affairs for implementing the Budget announcements.
• Expenditure for science and technology is Rs 37435 crore.
• Total resources transferred to States and Union Territories is Rs 4.11 lakh crore.
• Recommended 3% fiscal deficit for three years with a deviation of 0.5% of the GDP. Revenue deficit is 1.9%.
• Fiscal deficit of 2017-18 pegged at 3.2% of the GDP. Will remain committed to achieving 3% in the next year.

Tax Proposals

• India’s tax to GDP ratio is not favourable.
• Out of 13.14 lakh registered companies, only 5.97 lakh firms have filed returns for 2016-17.
• Proportion of direct tax to indirect tax is not optimal.
• Individuals numbering 1.95 crore showed an income between Rs 2.5 lakh to f 5 lakh.
• Out of 76 lakh individual assesses declaring income more than Rs 5 lakh, 56 lakh are salaried.
• Only 1.72 lakh people showed Income of more than Rs 50 lakh a year.
• Between November 8 to December 30, deposits ranging from 12 lakh and f 80 lakh were made in 1.09 crore accounts.
• Net tax revenue of 2013-14 was Rs 11.38 lakh crore.
• Out of 76 lakh individual assesses declaring income more than Rs 5 lakh, 56 lakh are salaried.
• 95 crore individuals showed income between Rs 2.5 lakh to 15 lakh.
• Rate of growth of advance tax in Personal 1-T is 34.8% in the last three quarters of this financial year.
• Holding period for long term cap&al gain lowered to two years.
• Proposal to have a carry-forward of t MAT for 15 years.
• Capital gains tax to be exempted for persons holding land from which land was pooled for creation of the state capital of Andhra Pradesh.
• Under the corporate tax, in order to make MSME companies more viable, there is a proposal to reduce tax for small companies with a turnover of up to Rs 50 crore to 25%. About 67 lakh companies fall in this category. 96% of companies to get this benefit
• The government proposes to reduce basic customs duty for LNG to 2.5% from 5%.
• The Income Tax Act to be amended to ensure that no transaction above Rs 3 lakh is permitted in cash.
• The limit of cash donation by charitable trusts is reduced to Rs 2000 fromRs 10000.
• Net revenue loss in direct tax could be Rs 20000 crore.

Also read – Daily Current Affairs

Demonetisation

• Demonetisation is expected to have a transient impact on the economy.
• It will have a great impact on the economy and lives of people.
• Demonetisation is a bold and decisive measure that will lead to higher GDP growth.
• The effects of demonetisation will not spillover to the next fiscal.

Defence Sector

• The defence sector gets an allocation of Rs 2.74114 crore.

Personal Income Tax

• Existing rate of tax for individuals between Rs 2.5 to t 5 lakh is reduced to 5% from 10%.
• All other categories of tax payers in subsequent brackets will get a benefit ofRs 12500.
• Simple one page return for people with an annual income of Rs 5 lakh other than business income.
• People filing I-T returns for the first time will not come under any government scrutiny.
• 10% surcharge on individual income above Rs 50 lakh and up to Rs 1 crore to make up for Rs 15000 crore loss due to cut in personal I-T rate. 15 surcharge on individual income above Rs 1 crore to remain.

Rural Population

• The government targets to bring 1 crore households out of poverty by 2019.
• During 2017-18, five lakh farm ponds will be be taken-up under the MGNREGA.
• Over Rs 3 lakh crore will be spent for rural India. MGNREGA to double fanners’ income.
• Will take steps to ensure participation of MGNREGA up to 55%.
• Space technology will be used in a big wav to emu. MGNREGA works.
• The government proposes to complete l crore hmae, for those without homes.
• Will allocate Rs 19000 crore for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana in 2017-18.
• The country well on way to achieve 100% rural electrification by March, 2018.
• Swachh Bharat mission has made tremendous progress; sanitation coverage has gone up from 42% in October 13 to160% now.