Union Budget 2017: Top Highlights

New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget for 2017-18 in Parliament at 11 am on Wednesday, during the Budget Session.

Here are the top highlights of the Budget 2017:

Personal Income Tax:

• There will be no inspection of first time tax payers: Arun Jaitley
• A simple 1 page form will be introduced to file IT returns: FM
• Of 3.7 crore individuals who filed tax returns in 2015-16, 99 lakh showed income below exemption limit: Arun Jaitley
• 15 percent surcharge on incomes above Rs 1 crore to continue: FM Arun Jaitley
• Surcharge of 10 percent for those whose annual income is between Rs 50 lakh to 1 crore: FM Arun Jaitley
• No tax for those who use tax rebates on Rs 4.5 lakh income: FM Arun Jaitley
• Combined effect of new tax structure will be that people with income below Rs 3 lakh will not have to pay tax, and those between Rs 3 and 3.5 lakh will pay a maximum of Rs 2,500: FM Arun Jaitley
• Between Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, income tax rate reduced to 5 percent from 10 percent: FM Arun Jaitley

Political funding:

• Parties can receive donations in cheque or digitally from their donors: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
• In according with Election Commission suggestion, maximum donation a political party can receive in cash from a single source will Rs 2000: FM Arun Jaitley

Companies Tax:

• Government not to remove Minimum Alternative Tax in 2017-18. I propose to allow a carry forward of Minimum Alternate Tax for a period of 15 years as against 10 years now: FM Arun Jaitley
• Companies which have turnover upto Rs 50 crore will get 5 percent tax return. Their income tax rate thus reduces to 25 percent. 96 percent of Indian companies will thus get this benefit. It will boost our MSME sector: FM Arun Jaitley

Tax:

• Capital gains tax exempted for persons under land pooling mechanism for creation of new Andhra Pradesh capital Amaravati: FM Arun Jaitley
• Draft bill placed in public domain for law against chit fund scams, to protect the poor: FM Arun Jaitley
• Advance tax on income tax increased by 34.8 percent due to demonetization: FM Arun Jaitley
• Main priority of government to eradicate black money component from the economy, says Arun Jaitley
• Drive of tax proposal is to encourage growth, promote digital economy, and fight against black money: FM Arun Jaitley
• Tax collection has increased by 17 percent per year over the last 2 years: FM Arun Jaitley
• When too many people evade taxes burden falls on those who are honest. We are mainly a tax non-compliant society: FM Arun Jaitley
• RBI review committee suggested 3 percent economic deficit for next 3 years: FM Arun Jaitley
• Revenue deficit has come down to 2.1 percent.
• Our Direct Tax collection is not commensurate with income. Only 1.8 crore Indians have filed IT returns: FM Arun Jaitley
• Out of 3.7 crore who filed tax returns in 2015-16, only 24 lakh persons showed income above Rs 10 lakh, says Arun Jaitley

Total expenditure:

• Total resources being transferred to the states & union territories with legislature is Rs 4.11 lakh crore: FM Arun Jaitley
• Rs 21.47 lakh crore to be allocated as total expenditure in the Budget: FM

Defence:

• Defence forces to get centralized, hassle-free rail ticket booking system. They do not have to stand in queues any more: FM Arun Jaitley
• 2,74,114 crores allocated to defence expenditure, including pensions: FM Arun Jaitley

Digitisation:

• Aadhar pay facility will be launched very soon to help those without mobile wallets: Arun jaitley
• Digital transaction has seen an increase, 1,25,000 people have adopted BHIM app already: Arun Jaitley

Finance:

• Financial deficit at 3.2 % of GDP; remain committed to achieving 3% in 2017-18: Arun Jaitley
• Rs 10,000 crore provided for recapitalization of banks: Arun Jaitley
• Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has been eradicated: Arun Jaitley
• A computer emergency response team will be established to ensure cyber security in financial sector: Arun Jaitley
• Expert committee to be created to integrate spot and derivative market for commodity trading: Arun Jaitley
• Total allocation for infrastructure will be Rs 3,96,135 crores: FM Arun Jaitley
• Want to make India a global hub of electronic infrastructure: FM Arun Jaitley

Roadways and Airways:

• Under Bharat Net project, Optical Fibre Cable has been placed for a length of 1,55,000 kms: FM Arun Jaitley
• Selected airports in Tier 2 cities will be taken for Public-Private Partnership: FM Arun Jaitley
• Rs 64,000 crore allocated for National Highways: FM Arun Jaitley

Railways:

• Service charges on e-tickets booked through IRCTC will be withdrawn: FM Arun Jaitley
• By 2019, all coaches of Indian Railways will be fitted with bio-toilets, and Railways will incorporate end to end transport solutions for selected commodities through partnership: FM Arun Jaitley
• A new metro rail policy will be announced. This will also open up new jobs for our youth: FM Arun Jaitley
• 500 stations to be made differently abled-friendly: FM Arun Jaitley
• Dedicated trains will be launched for tourism and pilgrimage
• Rail Raksha Fund to be created with amount of 1 lakh crore over 5 years, stated the Finance Minister
• Total capital for rail budget has been attached at 1,37,000 crores, stated Arun Jaitley

Medical:

• Two New AIIMS to be set up in Jharkhand and Gujarat: FM Arun Jaitley
• Action plan to remove Kala Azar, filariasis by 2017, leprosy by 2018, measles by 2020 & TB by 2025: FM Arun Jaitely

Social welfare:

• For senior citizens, Aadhaar based health cards will be issued: FM
• Allocation for welfare of Scheduled Castes increased to Rs 52,393 crore: Arun Jaitley

Housing:

• Open defecation free villages are now being given priority for pipe to water supply: FM
• 100% village electrification will be achieved by May 1, 2018: Arun Jaitley
• Under various schemes, allocation stepped up to 1,84,632 crores to facilitate affordable housing and infrastructure to poor: Arun Jaitley
• Mission Antyodaya to bring 1 crore houses out of poverty, make 50,000 Gram Panchayats poverty-free: Arun Jaitley
• Government to complete 1,00,00,000 houses by 2019 for homeless and those living in kaccha houses: FM

Education:

• In higher education, we will undertake reforms in UGC,
• give autonomy to colleges and institutions: Arun Jaitley
• Special schemes will be annouced to create employment in textile sector: Arun Jaitley
• National Testing Agency to conduct all entrance exams for higher education: FM
• PM Kaushal Kendras will be set up in more than 600 districts across the country to offer advanced training and foreign languages: FM
• Will leverage ICT by Swayam course, where students can learn course work online: FM
• Innovation fund for secondary education to encourage local innovation, gender parity and ICT transformation: Arun Jaitley

Agriculture:

• Total allocation for rural, agricultural and allied sectors for 2017-18 is Rs 187223 crore, which is 24% higher than last year: FM
• Target of agricultural loans to farmers set at record Rs 10 lakh crore in 2017-18: FM
• Arun Jaitley said the highest ever amount of Rs 48,000 crore has been allocated for MNREGA scheme.
• Dairy processing infrastructure fund will be set up under NABARD, with fund of 8,000 crore: FM
• A model law on contract farming and a dairy processing fund will be set up in 3 years: Arun Jaitley
• Dedicated micro irrigation fund to be set up. For post-harvest, farmers will get better prices in market: FM
• Issuance of soil health cards have gathered momentum. We will setup a mini lab in krishi vigyan kendras: Arun Jaitley
• We will take special efforts to ensure adequate flow of credit to underserved areas, Northeastern states and Jammu and Kashmir: FM
• Government to spend more on rural areas, infrastructure and poverty alleviation with fiscal prudence.
• Arun Jaitley said agricultural growth has risen to 4.1 per cent for 2016-17.
• Government committed to double farmer income: Arun Jaitley
• We have taken more steps to help farmers to increase production and deal with post-harvest problems: FM