Friday, March 1, 2013

Key highlights of the Union Budget 2013-14

Following are some of the key highlights of the Union Budget 2013-14 presented by Finance Minister P Chidambaram in Parliament on Thursday (February 28): 

*No change in income tax slabs 

*Relief of Rs 2,000 for tax payers in tax bracket of Rs 2-5 lakh 

*10 pc surcharge on persons with taxable income of over Rs 1 crore 

*Tobacco products, SUVs and mobile phones to cost more 

*Income limit under Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme raised to 12 lakh from Rs 10 lakh 

*First home loan of up to Rs 25 lakh to get extra interest deduction of up to Rs 1 lakh 

*Duty free limit of gold import increased to Rs 50,000 for male passengers and Rs 1 lakh for female passengers 

*India's first women's bank to be set up by October 

* Concessional six per cent interest on loans to weavers 

* Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana benefit extended to rickshaw pullers, auto and taxi drivers, among others 

* 'Nirbhaya Fund' of Rs 1,000 crore to empower women and provide safety in the wake of Delhi gang-rape incident 

*Fiscal deficit for 2013-14 pegged at 4.8 pc of GDP and 5.2 per cent in 2012-13 

*Plan expenditure pegged at Rs 5,55,322 crore and non-Plan at Rs 11,09,975 crore 

*New taxes to collect Rs 18,000 crore for government 

*Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme launched for recovering service tax dues 

*Rs 14,000 crore earmarked for capital infusion in public sector banks in 2013-14 

*Refinance capacity of SIDBI raised to Rs 10,000 crore 

*TUF Scheme for textile sector to continue in 12th Plan with an investment of Rs 1.51 lakh crore 

*Rs 9,000 crore earmarked as first instalment of balance of CST compensation to states 

*Defence allocation at Rs 203,672 crore, education Rs 65,867 crore and Rural Development Ministry Rs 80,194 cr 

*Rs 10,000 crore earmarked for National Food Security towards incremental cost 

*Farm credit target set at Rs 7 lakh crore as against Rs 5.75 lakh crore in 2012-13 

*Direct Benefit Transfer scheme to be rolled out in the entire country during tenure of UPA government 

*Commodity transaction tax of 0.01 per cent proposed on non-agri futures traded on commodity bourses 

*Securities Transaction Tax brought down to 0.01 per cent 

*No change in basic customs duty; normal excise and service tax rates unchanged at 12 per cent 

*Handmade carpets and textile floor coverings of coir or jute exempted from excise duty 

*Excise duty on SUVs increased to 30 per cent from 27 per cent 

*Chidambaram says India to become USD 5 trillion economy, and among top five in the world by 2025 

*High current account deficit (CAD) a worry 

*Food inflation a worry, govt to take all possible steps to augment supply side bottlenecks 

*Govt proposes India's first Women's Bank as a public sector bank with Rs 1,000 crore initial capital; banking licence likely by October 

*Foreign Trade Policy next month 

*Two new major ports to come in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh to add 100 million tonnes of capacity 

*Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDM) to get Rs 13,215 crore 

*Post offices to come on core banking solution and offer real time banking services; Rs 532 cr allocated for 2013-14 

*Modified GAAR to be incorporated in Income-tax Act; the provisions to come into effect from April 2016 

*Govt proposes to expand scope of annual information returns, extend epayment facility through more banks, extend the refund banker system to refunds of more than Rs 50,000 

*E-filing mandatory for more categories of assessees 

*Direct Taxes Code (DTC) in the ongoing Budget session

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