The Acting Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee presented the budget revealing spending plans for year 2009-10 from April to July, taking care of essential spending during and in immediate after month of the general elections.
Highlights of Budget 2009-2010:
Budget spells out the target for the UPA: To bring back the 9% growth
Commodities Transaction Tax (CTT) to be scrapped
10% surcharge on personal Income tax scrapped
Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) to be scrapped
IT exemption limit for Women hiked to Rs 190,000
IT exemption limit for Senior Citizens hiked to Rs 240,000
Rs 12000 crore earmarked for expenditure on rural roads in FY 2010
Drugs related to heart diseases to be cheaper
Service Tax to be now applicable on law firms
Bio-diesel custom duty lowered
Customs Duty on import of Gold and Silver increased
Branded women's jewellery to be cheaper
Rs 16300 Crore to be set aside for the upcoming Commonwealth Games
IITs and NITs to get Rs 2113 crore
Corporate Tax unchanged
One rank-one pension provision/scheme to be in place for Ex-Servicemen
National Ganga Project allocation to go up to Rs 562 Crore
Unique Identification (UID) project under Nandan M. Nilekani to be out in 12-18 months
NRHM allocation to be raised by Rs 257 crore
A national level action plan in place for climate change
National Employment Exchanges to be modernized
Interest subsidy for home loans up to 1 lakhs
Indira Awaas Yojna bolstered up by 63% to Rs 8883 crore
Saral 2 forms to simply tax filing process
Emphasis on fertilizer subsidy reaching out directly to farmers
Petroleum price expert panel to set petroleum prices which would be in sync with the global levels
Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna allocation increased by 30%
IIFCL, being a new company shall look into the infrastructure needs
Extension of farm loan waiver scheme by 6 months
The allocation for National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) increased by 23%
Fiscal stimulus at 3.5% pf the GDP
Small scale businesses to be exempted from advance tax
50% reduction in the Custom Duty on LCD panels
Set top boxes to be costlier
Goods and Services Tax (GST) to be in effect from April, 2010
Textile units to enjoy continued tax holidays
Pranab praises the 3 stimulus packages which were rolled out by the UPA to fight the global economic meltdown
Signals of revival in the domestic market: Pranab Mukherjee
