Highlights of Union Budget 2018 | Key highlights from Arun Jaitley Budget 2018

Highlights of Union Budget 2018: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the general budget 2018-19 in Parliament. The union budget was guided by a mission to strengthen agriculture, rural development, MSME, health, education, employment, and infrastructure sectors. In this budget, India’s farmers and villagers, as well as companies with exposure to agriculture, emerge as the winners. Bond investors and consumers might just be the losers. The government said that a range of structural reforms would propel India among the fastest growing economies of the world. Country firmly on track to achieve over 8% growth as manufacturing, services and exports back on right growth path.

Click here to read the Key highlights from Arun Jaitley Budget 2018

Highlights of India Union Budget 2018

Highlights of India Union Budget 2018

• No change in personal income tax structure. There is a standard deduction of Rs. 40,000 for salaried taxpayers in lieu of transport and medical expenses.
• 25% Corporate tax rate extended to companies with turnover up to Rs. 250 crore.
• As a measure to tackle the challenge of air pollution in the Delhi-NCR region, Shri Jaitley said that a special Scheme will be implemented to support the efforts of the governments of Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and the NCT of Delhi to address air pollution and to subsidize machinery required for in-situ management of crop residue.

Highlights of Union Budget 2018

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• 100% tax deduction for companies registered as farmer-producer companies with a turnover of Rs. 100 Crore.
• Long-term capital gain exceeding Rs. 1 Lakhs will be taxed at 10% without indexing and for short-term capital, the tax remains at 15%.
• An exemption in income of Rs. 50,000 from bank FD and post office deposit for senior citizens.
• Senior citizens to get Rs. 50,000 er annum exemption for medical insurance under section 80 D.

Highlights of Union Budget 2018

• India produced over 275 million tonnes of food grain and 300 million tonnes of fruits and vegetables in 2016-17.
• Crop production at record high; The government is committed to giving 50% more than the cost of crop production to farmers.
• The government to set MSP at one-and-half times the cost of production for Kharif crops.
• The government will ensure farmers to get MSP if prices fail; Niti Aayog will discuss with the state government as a mechanism to ensure farmers get better prices.
• The government planned for Rs. 2000 Crore fund to be set up for upgrading rural agriculture markets. Rs. 5.97 lakh crore allocation for infrastructure
• Ten prominent sites to be developed as Iconic tourist destinations and NITI Aayog to initiate a national programme on Artificial Intelligence(AI)

Highlights of Union Budget 2018

• Centres of excellence to be set up on robotics, AI, Internet of things etc. Disinvestment crossed target of Rs 72,500 crore to reach Rs 1,00,000 crore
• Comprehensive Gold Policy on the anvil to develop yellow metal as an asset class.
• 100 percent deduction proposed to companies registered as Farmer Producer Companies. With an annual turnover up to Rs. 100 crore on profit derived from such activities, for five years from 2018-19.
• Deduction of 30 percent on emoluments paid to new employees Under Section 80-JJAA to be relaxed to 150 days for footwear and leather industry, to create more employment.

Highlights of Union Budget 2018

• No adjustment in respect of transactions in immovable property where Circle Rate value does not exceed 5 percent of consideration.
• Proposal to extend the reduced rate of 25 percent currently available for companies with a turnover of fewer than 50 crores (in Financial Year 2015-16), to companies reporting turnover up to Rs. 250 crore in Financial Year 2016-17, to benefit micro, small and medium enterprises.

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• Standard Deduction of Rs. 40,000 in place of present exemption for transport allowance and reimbursement of miscellaneous medical expenses. 2.5 crore salaried employees and pensioners to benefit.

Highlights of Union Budget 2018

• The government has promoted organic farmers in a big way; women self-help groups to be encouraged to take up organic farming.
• Food processing sector growing at 8% allocation for food processing ministry being doubled to Rs. 1400 Crore.
• India’s agriculture export potential is $100 bn as aganist current $30 bn exports.
• Mass formalisation of MSME sector is happening after demonetization and GST.

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• The target for loan disbursement under Mudra scheme set at Rs.3 Lakh crore for FY 2018-19.
• The government identifies 115 ‘ aspirant districts’ to make them model districts of development.
• PM Jeevn Jyoti Biima Yojana to reach all poor households and 24 new government medical college and hospitals to be set up by grading existing district hospitals.
• Outlay on health, education and social protection will be 1.38 lakh crore. Tribal students to get Ekalavya Residential School in each tribal block by 2022. Welfare fund for SCs gets a boost.

Highlights of Union Budget 2018

• Setting up of PM research fellow scheme; 1000 B-Tech Students to be selected. Two new planning and architecture schools to be set up in IITs.
• World’s largest Health Protection Scheme covering over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families launched with a family limit up to 5 lakh rupees for secondary and tertiary treatment.
• Th government to focus on health, education and social protection. To use technology to improve education from “blackboard to digital board”
• Natural resources are now being allocated in a transparent and honest manner and there is a premium on honesty.
• Fiscal Deficit pegged at 3.5 %, projected at 3.3 % for 2018-19.

Highlights of Union Budget 2018

• Higher targets for Ujjwala, Saubhagya and Swachh Mission to cater to lower and middle class in providing free LPG connections, electricity and toilets.
• Under Prime Minister Krishi Sinchai Yojna-Har Khet ko Pani, 96 deprived irrigation districts will be taken up with an allocation of Rs 2600 crore. The Centre will work with the state governments to facilitate farmers for installing solar water pumps to irrigate their fields.

Highlights of Union Budget 2018

• Under Saubahagya Yojana, 4 crore poor households are being provided with electricity connection with an outlay of  Rs.16,000 crore.
• MSP for all unannounced Kharif crops will be one and half times of their production cost like a majority of rabi crops: Institutional Farm Credit raised to 11 lakh crore in 2018-19 from 8.5 lakh crore in 2014-15.

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