BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS 2009

Union Budget Highlights

* Total budget expenditure for 2009-10 will Rs 10,28,032 cr
* Exemption limit for income tax raised by Rs 10,000
* Hike in IT exemption for women to Rs 1,90,000
* Hike in IT exemption to Rs 2,40,000 for senior citizens
* No change in corporate tax
* Eliminate surcharge on personal Income Tax by 10 pct
* Service tax exempted for exporters on select services
* Defence gets Rs 1,41,703 crore for 2009-10, a 34 pct hike from 2008-09 budgetary allocation
* Service tax imposed on certain legal services
* Customs duty to be reduced on drugs for heart treatment
* Mobile phone accessories to become cheaper
* Branded jewellery to become cheaper
* Customs duty on bio-diesel reduced
* Tax holiday textile units extended
* Customs duty on gold and silver import increased
* Custom duty on gold re-imposed
* Small businesses exempt from advance tax
* Overall customs and excise duty structure maintained
* To impose 5 pct customs duty on set top boxes
* Custom duty on LCD panels halved
* Tax holiday to natural gas extended
* Anonymous funds to charitable bodies get tax relief
* MAT rate hiked to 15% of book profit
* Commodities Transaction Tax to be abolished
* Effort is to improve tax collection by eliminating distortions in tax system and expanding the base
* Direct Tax code to be released in 45 days along with discussion paper
* Share of direct taxes has increase to 56 pct in 2008-09 over 41 pct in 2007-08
* Tax holiday for exporters extended until 2012
* Fringe Benefit Tax to be abolished
* Income tax incentives on education loans expanded to cover vocational studies after schooling
* Goods and Services Tax to be introduced from April 1, 2010
* New tax code to be set up in 45 days
* Govt committed to tax reforms
* Plan expenditure, for Centre and States, to go up by Rs 61,000 cr
* Fiscal deficit seen at 6.8 pct
* Higher public investment in infrastructure
* Rs 500 crore allocated for rehabilitation of internally displaced Tamils in Sri Lanka
* Rs 1,000 crore for rebuilding infrastructure damaged by 'Aila' in West Bengal
* Rs 25 cr allocated each for AMU campuses in Murshidabad, Mallapuram
* One lakh dwelling units for paramilitary forces personnel to be constructed
* Pension of non-commissioned officers to be hiked
* One rank, one pension for ex-servicemen from July 1
* Rs 2,113 cr for IITs and NITs
* Allocation of Rs 50 cr to Chandigarh University
* Commonwealth allocation hiked to Rs 16,300 cr
* Govt to hike allocation to National Ganga Project to Rs 562 cr
* First Unique ID to citizens to roll out in 12-18 months; Rs 120 crore proposed for the project
* Allocation for National Rural Health Mission to be raised by Rs 257 cr
* National action plan on climate change
* Allowances to para-military forces at par with defence forces
* Modernisation of national employment exchanges to be carried out
* Action initiated to provide social security to unorganised sector workers
* Full interest subsidy for students taking courses in approved institutions; five lakh students to benefit
* To add handloom cluster in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal
* 50 pct of all rural women to be brought into self-help group programmes
* Rashtriya Mahila Kosh allocation to be raised to Rs 500 cr
* National Mission for Female Literacy with emphasis on minorities, SC/ST to be launched
* Interest subsidy for home loans hiked to Rs 1 lakh
* Allocation for Bharat Nirman progamme raised by 45 pct
* Full interest subsidy for poor students for higher education
* Rs 100 cr one-time grant to expand banks in unbanking areas
* Work on National Food Security scheme for providing food at cheaper rates to the poor has begun
* Indira Awaas Yojna hiked by 63 pct to Rs 8,883 cr
* Rs 31,100 crore allocated to NREGA
* NREGA gave employment opportunities to more than 4.479 cr households in last fiscal
* To return to FRBM target for fiscal discipline at the earliest
* Subsidy regime for fertilisers to change to nutrient-based rather than price-based
* Banking network to be expanded
* Banks and insurance firms to remain in public sector
* Threshold for non-promoter public listed companies raised
* Saral-II forms to simplify taxation process
* Move towards energy security via Integrated Energy Act
* An expert group to look into petroleum product pricing
* Export Credit Guarantee scheme extended till March 2010
* Print media stimulus package extended by 6 months
* Target for agriculture credit raised to Rs 3,25,000 cr in FY10
* Allocation of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna stepped up by 30 pct
* Will create close to 12 million jobs
* Farmers loan interest to come down to 6 pct
* Total fiscal stimulus during FY09 is Rs 1,86,000 cr
* Fund allocation for urban poor accommodation is 3,973,000 cr
* Housing allocation hiked under Rajiv Awaas Yojana
* Mumbai flood management allocation hiked to Rs 500 cr
* IIFCL will re-finance 60 pct of commercial bank loans in PPP
* Share of trade has doubled to 38 % of GDP
* Uncertainties of global economy remain
* IIFCL to be given greater flexibility
* Govt took 3 stimulus packages to fight slowdown
* Trade in goods and services doubled in 2008
* Significant hike in foreign capital
* Infra investment to exceed 9% of GDP by 2014
* One Budget can't solve all issues: FM
* Policy target to revive agriculture and industrial growth
* Ensure 4 pct growth for agriculture: FM
* Increase investment in infrastructure: Pranab
* Growth Target at 9 pct per annum
* Cabinet approves Union Budget
* Pranab Mukherjee begins presentation of Union Budget 2009-10 in Lok Sabha