Highlights of Union Budget 2014-15

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SME Times News Bureau | 11 Jul, 2014
The following are the highlights of the general budget for 2014-15 presented Thursday by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Lok Sabha:

* IT exemption limit for those below 60 raised from Rs.2 lakh to Rs.2.5 lakh; from Rs.2.5 lakh to Rs.3 lakh for senior citizens

* Investment limit under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act raised to Rs.1.5 lakh.

* Deduction limit on account of interest on loan in respect of self-occupied house property raised from Rs.1.5 lakh to Rs.2 lakh.

* No change in surcharge for corporates; education cess to continue

* Excise duty on cigarettes raised from 11 percent to 72 percent

* Allocation of Rs.150 crore to improve safety of women in larger cities

* Allocation of Rs.100 crore for "Beti bachao, beti padhao" (Protect the girl child, educate the girl child) programme

* Allocation of Rs.500 to support Kashmiri Immigrants for rebuilding their lives

* Total sanitation in every household by 2019

* Colour TVs to cost less on reduced customs duties

* Free baggage allowance raised from Rs.35,000 to Rs.45,000

* Excise duty on footwear halved

* Total expenditure in 2014-15 estimated at Rs.17,97,892 crore; plan expenditure estimated at Rs.12,19,892 crore

* Budget will lay down steps aimed at 7-8 percent growth in next few years; aim is "Sub ke saath, sub ka vikas" (With everyone, For everyone's development)

* Government committed to achieve fiscal deficit of 4.1 percent in 2014-15, 3 percent by 2015-16 and 2 percent by 2016-17

* Defence allocated Rs.229,000 crore; modernisation gets Rs.5,000 crore over and above interim budget

* FDI in defence sector raised to 49 percent from 26 percent

* Allocation of Rs.1,000 crore for implementing One Rank One Pension scheme

* War Memorial and War Museum to be established at Princess Park in New Delhi; Rs.1,000 crore allocated

* Allocation of Rs.50 crore for National Police Memorial

* Allocation of Rs.2.037 crore for creating integrated Ganga conservation mission

* Jal Marg Vikas programme to be launched to promote navigation on Ganga from Allahabad to Haldia

* Ghat development at Kedarnath, Haridwar, Kanpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Patna and Delhi gets Rs.100 crore

* Hastkala Academy to be set up with allocation of Rs.30 crore

* Six more textile clusters to be set up with allocation of Rs.200 crore

Allocation of Rs.200 crore for power reforms and Rs.500 crore for water reforms to make Delhi a truly world-class city

* E-visas to be introduced at nine airports

* Five new tourist circuits to be established; Rs.500 crore to be allocated for this

* World class convention centre to come up in Goa

* National sports academies to be set up for disciplines like shooting, wrestling and boxing; Jammu and Kashmir gets Rs.200 crore to upgrade sports facilities; Sports university to come up in Manipur

* Negative list for service tax reduced

* Thirteen more airports to get 24x7 customs facilities

* Excise duty to be cut to revive manufacturing

* Revenue loss of Rs.22,000 crore due to direct tax proposals

* Government committed to implement GST at the earliest; issues raised by states to be resolved

* Gas pipeline grid of 15,000 km needs to be doubled

* Six debt recovery tribunals to be set up

* Bharat Depository Receipt to be created

* Uniform KYC norms to be introduced across entire financial sector

* Steps to revive SEZs

* Sixteen new port projects to be taken up this fiscal

* Development of industrial corridors with emphasis on smart cities linked to transport connectivity

* Skill India to be launched to train the youth with emphasis on employability and entrepreneur skills

* Target of constructing 8,500 km of national highways in current fiscal

* Second Green Revolution to be launched with focus on protein revolution

* Sustainable growth of 4 percent in agriculture to be achieved

* Price Stabilisation Fund of Rs.500 Crore for mitigating risk of price volatility in agricultural produce

* Corpus of Rs.5,000 crore for long-term loans to farmers

* Kisan TV to be launched to disseminate information in real time

* Allocation of Rs.14,389 crore for rural roads

* Allocation of Rs.500 crore to provide 24x7 power in rural areas

* Allocation of Rs.8,000 crore to improve rural housing

* Allocation of Rs.100 crore for soil testing facilities

* Allocation of Rs.50 crore for breeding of indigenous cattle

* Allocation of Rs.500 crore to improve broadband connectivity in rural areas

* New scheme to provide assured irrigation

* Export promotion mission to be established to bring all stakeholders under one umbrella

* FDI limit in insurance sector raised to 49 percent

* Allocation of Rs.500 crore for 5 more IITs and 5 more IIMs

* All states to get AIIMS like institutions

* Allocation of Rs.100 crore to promote good governance

* Allocation of Rs.3,600 crore for drinking water schemes

* Allocation of Rs.4,000 crore for National Housing Bank

* To print currency notes with Braille signs

* Shares of PSU banks to be sold to retail investors

* CBDT to scrutinize all cases under 2012 law on retrospective tax cases

* Problem of black money to be fully addressed

* Expenditure Management Commission to be established this fiscal