New Delhi - Finance Minister Arun Jaitley speech focused more on the education, healthcare and agriculture.
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Published: Thu 1 Feb 2018, 6:20 AM
Last updated: Mon 5 Feb 2018, 8:37 AM
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said India is expected to register a growth rate of 7.2-7.5 per cent in the second half of the current fiscal and is on way to becoming the 5th largest economy of the world. In his last full Budget speech Jaitley said India is poised to become $5 trillion economy soon from $2.5 trillion now. His speech focused more on the education, healthcare and agriculture. While unveiling the Budget 2018-19, he said, India has grown on an average of 7.5 per cent in the first three years of the current government and has become a $2.5 trillion economy. Equities slip into red Key Indian equity indices fell from their highs to trade in the red during the mid-afternoon trade session on Thursday. Heavy selling pressure was observed in consumer durables, metals and healthcare stocks. At 12.16pm, the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) fell by 17.60 points or 0.16 per cent to trade at 11,010.10 points. On the BSE, the barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) fell below the 36,000-mark to trade at 35,880.47 points -- down 84.55 points or 0.24 per cent from its previous close. However, the BSE market breadth was bullish with 1,364 advances and 1,161 declines. Customs duty on mobile phones up from 15% to 20% Arun Jaitley announced a hike in customs duty on mobile phones to 20 per cent from 15 per cent. "Customs duty on import of mobile phone parts will be increased to 20 per cent from the existing 15 per cent. This will boost jobs in the smartphone sector in India," Jaitley said during his Union Budget speech. In December, the government had increased customs duty on various items including mobile phones to 15 per cent from 10 per cent.
Budget Highlights
Highlights of the Union Budget for 2018-19 presented in the Lok Sabha by Finance Minister Arun Jaitly on Thursday:
* No change in personal income tax rates for salaried class * Tax buoyancy more than expected, thanks to greater compliance * Demonetisation was received by honest tax-payers as 'Imaandari ka Utsav' * Measures on rationalising long-term capital gains * Companies with turnover of upto Rs 250 crore to be taxed at 25 per cent * Government has identified 372 specific business reform actions to improve ease of doing business; Evaluation of performance under this programme to be based on user feedback * Revised fiscal deficit estimate for 2017-18 is 3.5 per cent of GDP, fiscal deficit of 3.3 per cent expected for 2018-19 * 12.6 per cent growth in direct taxes in 2017-18; 18.7 per cent growth in indirect taxes in 2017-18 * 100 per cent tax deduction for the first five years to companies registered as farmer producer companies with a turnover of Rs 100 crore and above * Revised emoluments for President - Rs 5 lakh, Vice President - Rs 4 lakh and Governors - Rs 3.5 lakh; Automatic revision of MPs' emoluments every five years, indexed to inflation * UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme will connect 56 unserved airports and 31 unserved helipads * Rs 80,000 crore disinvestment target for 2018-19, target for 2017-18 has been exceeded and will reach Rs 1 lakh crore * Government insurance companies to be merged into a single entity, and subsequently listed in the stock exchange, as part of the disinvestment programme * National Logistics Portal as a single online window to link all stakeholders, to be developed by Department of Commerce * Foundation stone of the bullet train was laid in September 2017. An institute is coming up in Vadodara to train the manpower required for the high speed railway projects * 12,000 wagons, 5160 coaches and 700 locomotives being procured. There is significant achievements of physical targets by railways * Road construction has scaled new heights, confident that 9000 km highway construction will be complete by 2017-18 * National Committee chaired by PM, including CMs, Gandhians and representatives from various walks of life for year-long commemoration of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi * Rs 1,48,528 crore capital expenditure for Indian Railways for 2018-19 * All trains to be progressively provided with Wi-Fi, CCTV and other state-of-the-art amenities * NITI Aayog will establish a National Programme to direct efforts in the area of Artificial Intelligence towards national development * Five lakh Wi-Fi hotspots to be set up in rural areas to provide easy internet access * Government to take all steps to eliminate use of cryptocurrencies which are being used to fund illegitimate transactions * Individual enterprises too to have unique ID * Government plans to construct two crore more toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission * Rs 7,148 crore outlay for textile sector in 2018-19 * One government medical college to be ensured for every three parliamentary constituencies by upgrading 24 district-level colleges * Hard work of farmers resulted in a record production of more than 275 million tonnes of foodgrain and about 300 million tonnes of horticultural produce * Not only focussing on 'Ease of Doing Business' but also 'Ease of Living' * 70 lakh formal jobs have been created this year. Government will contribute 12 per cent of the wages as EPF in all sectors for the next three years * Mass formalisation of MSME sector is happening after demonetisation and GST * Have decided to take healthcare protection to a new aspirational level. Launching a flagship National Health Protection Scheme to cover 10 crore poor and vulnerable families, benefiting approximately 50 crore people * Providing Rs 5 lakh per family per year for medical reimbursement, under National Health Protection Scheme. This will be world's largest health protection scheme * Government is slowly but steadily progressing towards universal health coverage * Air pollution in Delhi NCR is a cause for concern; special scheme will be implemented to support Haryana, Punjab, UP and Delhi NCT to address this and subsidise machinery for management of crop residue * Scheme for revitalising school infrastructure, with an allocation of Rs 1 lakh crore over four years. Called RISE - Revitalizing Infrastructure in School Education
* Eklavya schools to be started for Scheduled Tribe population
* By 2022, every block with more than 50 per cent ST population and at least 20,000 tribal people will have 'Ekalavya' school at par with Navodaya Vidyalas * Integrated B.Ed programme to be initiated for teachers to improve quality of teachers * India is firmly on path to achieve 8 per cent plus growth
* Propose to raise institutional credit for agriculture to Rs 11 lakh Crore for 2018-19 * Rs 14.34 lakh crore to be spent for rural infrastructure * Eight crore free gas connections to women under UJJWALA and 4 crore electricity connections to the poor under Saubhagya Yojana * Fishery and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund and Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Fund to be set up with corpus of Rs 10,000 crore * Restructured National Bamboo Mission to be launched with allocation of Rs 1,290 crore to promote sector in a holistic manner * Rs 500 crore for Operation Green * Agri-Market Development Fund with a corpus of 2000 crore to be set up for developing agricultural markets
* 470 APMCs have been connected to #eNAM network, the rest to be connected by March 2018
* Minimum Support Price of all crops shall be increased to at least 1.5 times that of the production cost
* From ease of doing business, government has moved to ease of living for the poor and middle class
* Allocation in for Ministry of Food Processing is being doubled; specialised agro-processing and financial institutions to be promoted by the government
* India now a $2.5 trillion economy and firmly on path to achieve 8% plus growth soon
* Will focus on agriculture and rural economy, health, infra, senior citizens
* Hope to grow at 7.2 per cent-7.5 per cent in the second half of 2017-18
* Allocating natural resources in a more transparent manner, there is a premium on honesty now
* Government led by PM Modi has implemented a series of fundamental structural reforms
Key points from Arun Jaitley's speach:
Govt to set up two new full-fledged Schools of Planning and Architecture: FM Jaitely #UnionBudget2018 - ANI (@ANI) February 1, 2018
By 2022, every block with more than 50% ST population and at least 20,000 tribal people will have 'Ekalavya' school at par with Navodaya Vidayalas: FM Arun Jaitley #UnionBudget2018 - ANI (@ANI) February 1, 2018
Propose launch of a restructure national bamboo mission with Rs 1200 crore,10,000 crore has been allocated to fisheries and animal husbandry sector: FM Jaitley #UnionBudget2018 - ANI (@ANI) February 1, 2018
Agri-Market Development Fund with a corpus of 2000 crore to be set up for developing agricultural markets: FM Jaitley
Agri-Market Development Fund with a corpus of 2000 crore to be set up for developing agricultural markets: FM Jaitley #UnionBudget2018 - ANI (@ANI) February 1, 2018
Our government has moved to ease of living for the poor and middle class: says FM Jaitley
Equities in green, Sensex at 36k The key Indian equity indices on Thursday traded with appreciable gains. According to market observers, expectation of sops from the Union Budget, along with positive Asian markets and healthy buying in consumer durables, capital goods and banking stocks, lifted investors' risk-taking appetite. Around 10am, the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) traded higher by 63.35 points or 0.57 per cent at 11,091.05 points. On the BSE, the barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex), which reclaimed the 36,000-mark at the opening, traded at 36,188.50 points - up 223.48 points or 0.62 per cent from its previous close. The Sensex has so far touched a high of 36,226.97 points and a low of 36,021.88 points during intra-day trade. The BSE market breadth was bullish with 1,495 advances and 636 declines. All eyes on fiscal deficit target As India's government unveils its 2018-19 budget on Thursday, all eyes will be on whether the authorities stay the course on containing the fiscal deficit, or whether they throw caution to the wind with a populist set of spending priorities. Facing discontent at home over falling farm incomes and a backlash following policy initiatives that have dented growth, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be aiming to woo rural voters and small business owners in the last full budget before a general election that must be held by May 2019. While economic growth has been slowed by the botched rollout of a nationwide goods and service tax (GST) in 2017, and a shock move to ban high value currency notes in late 2016, investors have so far looked beyond the setbacks, perceiving the initiatives as positive long term. Benchmark 10-year bond yields have fallen 135 basis points and the NSE share index has surged 55 per cent since Modi took power in May 2014. Read: India budget to test investors' faith in Modi's government To keep investors on side however, Modi will have to convince them that he plans to keep to his word on working towards reining in the fiscal deficit. A Reuters poll this week showed most economists expect a 3.2 per cent deficit in 2018-19, as the government looks to increase investments in areas such as agriculture. Anything much beyond that, however, may draw a swift sell-off in the markets. Investors were already spooked this week after India's Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian, in an economic survey ahead of the budget, suggested "a pause" in the fiscal consolidation path, while the government attempts to reinvigorate growth. Indian shares fell for a second consecutive session on Wednesday, as investors opted to book profits ahead of the budget, with markets trading near all-time highs. The benchmark 10-year bond yield closed flat at 7.60 per cent on Wednesday, but it is up 13 basis points from its close on Friday after Subramanian's comments.
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