FM Arun Jaitley to present Union Budget 2018 today. CASANSAAR are providing you live updates of Union Budget 2018. JUST REFRESH THE PAGE (CLICK F5) FOR ALL LIVE UPDATES.
FM closes his Budget speech and now its time for reactions.
The key takeaways for the market remains the fiscal deficit numbers and the capital gains tax both of which have been the dampeners.
NO CHANGE IN INCOME TAX SLABS FOR INDIVIDUALS
The total amount of exempted capital gains has surged to nearly Rs 360,000 crore as of last years returns. Considering return on equity is already high, the FM proposes to tax
capital gains exceeding Rs 1 lakh at 10% without indexation benefit with certain caveats.
Capital gains made on shares until Jan 31 will be grandfathered. Short term capital gains remains at 15%.
Short term capital tax remains at 15%
Education and health cess to be increased from 3% to 4%
Tax relief for senior citizens
* Exemption of interest income from banks, Post offices increased from Rs 10000 to Rs 50000
* Health insurance premium benefit raised to Rs 50000 under Section 80 D
* Medical expenditure for critical illness to be exempt up to Rs 1 lakh
Tax relief to the salaried class
No changes in income tax slabs
But Standard deduction of Rs 40000 to be allowed.
The standard deduction is in lieu of travel and medical expense reimbursement, which amounts to Rs 30,000. So the actual tax benefit would Rs 10,000 crore for each taxpayer.
FM proposes to raise the deduction under health insurance premium to Rs 50,000. In case of senior citizens with critical illnesses the deduction will be Rs 1 lakh. Further, FD and post office interest will be exempt till Rs 50,000. 80D benefit has been enhanced to Rs 50,000
Corporate tax rate of 25% extended to cos with turnover of up to Rs 250 crore for FY16-17
100% tax deduction for the first five years to companies registered as farmer producer companies with a turnover of Rs. 100 crore and above
Growth rate of direct taxes have been significant, says the Finance Minister. Tax buoyancy higher in 15-16 and 16-17 and have contributed an excess of Rs 90000 crore in personal income tax collection to the exchequer. Effective tax payers now 8.27 crore.
Growth rate of direct taxes have been significant, says the Finance Minister. Tax buoyancy higher in 15-16 and 16-17 and have contributed an excess of Rs 90000 crore to the exchequer.
In 2017-18 the central govt will be received GST revenue of only 11 months and this will have a fiscal effect. There will also be shortfall of non-tax revenue. The total revised estimated expenditure is Rs 21.57 lakh crore against 21.47 lakh crore.
We embarked upon path of consistent reduction of fiscal deficit. Revised fiscal deficit for 2017-18 is at Rs 5.95 lakh crore or 3.5% of GDP. Projecting fiscal deficit at 3.3% of GDP for 2018-19.
FM proposes to revise the emoluments of President to Rs 5 lakh per month, Rs 4 lakh for Vice President and Rs 3.5 lakh for Governor. He also proposes inflation-linked revision of salary of Members of Parliament
Divestment target Rs 80,000 crore for FY19: FM. PSU bank recap will allow banks to give additional lending of Rs 5 lakh crore.
National Insurance Co, Oriental Insurance Co and United Assurance Co to be merged into one entity and subsequently listed
Govt has initiated strategic disinvestment in 24 PSUs, including Air India
Govt will evolve a scheme to assign a Unique ID for companies.
FM eiterates that government does not consider cryptocurrency legal tender and will take all measures to eliminate its illegal use.
Cryptocurrency investors in India have to bear in mind that the government doesn't consider them legal tender. But they needn't worry too much because Jaitley has only said that the government will look to eradicate their usage for illegitimate activities, nothing about investing in them.
Government announces Amrut program to ensure water supply to all households in 500 cities. Water supply contracts for 494 projects worth Rs 19428 core will be awarded, Jaitley announces.
Sebi will consider mandatng large corps to meet 25% of debt needs from the market, he says, adding the Reserve Bank of India will nudge companies to access bond markets for fundraising.
Govt plans to expand airport capacity by 5 times to 1 billion trips a year. Rs 60 crore has been allocated to kick start the initiative.
All trains to be progressively provided with WiFI, CCTV and other state-of-the-art amenities. Rs 148528 crore will the capital expenditure for Indian Railways in 2018-19.
4267 unmanned railway crossing will be eliminated in next two years.