NEW DELHI, Feb 26 (IANS): Highlights of 2010-11 budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Parliament on Friday:
-- Petrol and diesel prices to go up as basic duty of 5 percent on crude petroleum, 7.5 percent on diesel and petrol and 10 percent on other refined products restored; central excise duty on petrol and diesel enhanced by Re.1 per litre each
-- Taxes on large cars and SUVs increased 2 percent to 22 percent
-- Income up to Rs.1.6 lakh per year exempt from income tax; up to Rs.5 lakh to be taxed at 10 percent; income of Rs.5-8 lakh to be taxed at 20 percent and income above Rs.8 lakh to be taxed at 30 percent
-- Deduction of an additional amount of Rs.20,000 allowed, over and above the existing limit of Rs.1 lakh on tax savings, for investment in long-term infrastructure
bonds as notified by the central government
-- IT return forms for individual tax payers to be further simplified
-- If tax has been deducted on payment by way of any expense and is paid before the
due date of filing the return, such expenditure to be allowed for deduction; interest
charged on tax deducted but not deposited by the specified date to be increased from 12 to 18 percent per year
-- Service sector tax retained at 10 percent to aid the introduction of GST; more services to be taxed
-- Rs. 26,000 crore revenue loss due to reduction of direct taxes
-- Rate reduction in central excise duties to be partially rolled back and the standard
rate on all non-petroleum products enhanced from 8 to 10 percent ad valorem
-- Tax on cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco increased
-- Current tax surcharge of 10 percent on domestic companies reduced to 7.5 percent
-- Rate of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) increased from 15 to 18 percent of book profits
-- Partial roll back of reduction in central excise duty
-- Government actively engaged in finalising structure of general sales tax regime; hopes to implement it from April 1, 2011
-- Implementation of direct tax code from April 1, 2011
-- Benefit of investment linked deduction extended to new hotels of two-star category and above
-- Allow pending projects to be completed within a period of five years instead of four years for claiming a deduction of their profits, as a one-time interim relief to the housing and real estate sector
-- Norms for built-up area of shops and other commercial establishments in housing projects to be relaxed to enable basic facilities for their residents
-- Gross tax receipts estimated at Rs.7,46,651 crore
-- Non Tax revenue receipts estimated at Rs.1,48,118 crore
-- Fiscal deficit to come down to 5.5 percent in 2010-11
-- FDI flows in April-December 2009 $20.9 billion
-- FDI policy to be made more user-friendly with one comprehensive document
-- Rs.35,000 crore raised from divestment in 2009-10; will be higher in 2010-11
-- New banks as Indian Banking Association to give additional licences to private players
-- Provision for further capital for regional rural banks
-- Banking facilities to be provided to all habitations with a population of 2,000 and more
-- Total budget expenditure Rs.11,08,749 crore, an increase of 8.6 percent over last year.
-- Plan expenditure Rs.3,73,092 crore, Non Plan expenditures Rs.7,35,657 crore; 15 percent increase in Plan expenditure, 6 percent in Non Plan expenditure
-- Plan allocation for power sector excluding Rajiv Gandhi rural electrification programme doubled from Rs.2,230 crore in 2009-10 to Rs.5,130 crore in 2010-11
-- The spending on social sector has been gradually increased to Rs.1,37,674 crore in 2010-11, which is 37 percent of the total plan outlay
-- Fifty percent hike in allocation for schemes for women and child development
-- Rs.4,500 crore allocated for ministry of social justice and empowerment, a hike of 80 percent
-- Rs.2,600 crore allocated for ministry of minorities affairs
-- Rs.1,900 crore for Unique Identification Authority of India
-- Rs.147,344 crore allocated for defence
-- Allocation on primary education raised from Rs.26,800 crore to Rs.31,300 crore
-- Rs.66,100 crore allocated for rural development in 2010-11; Rs.40,100 crore for National Rural Employment Scheme; RS.48,000 crore for Bharat Nirman
-- Rs.1,270 crore allocated for Rajiv Awas Yojana for slum dwellers, up from Rs.150 crore, an increase of 700 percent with the aim of creating a slum free India
-- Forty-six percent of plan allocations in 2010-11 will be for infrastructure development
-- Allocation for new and renewable energy sector increased 61 percent from Rs.620 crore to Rs.1,000 crore in 2010-11
-- Rs.200 crore to be provided in 2010-11 for climate-resilient agricultural initiative
-- Involvement of private sector in grain storage to continue for another two years
-- In view of drought and floods, debt repayment period extended to June 2010
-- New fertiliser policy from April 2010
-- Economy stabilised in first quarter of 2009-10; strong rebound in second quarter; overall growth at 7.2 and could be higher when Q3 and Q4 are taken into account
-- India has weathered global economic crisis well; Indian economy in far better position than it was a year ago. In 2009 Indian economy faced grave uncertainty; delay in southwest monsoon had undermined agricultural production
-- First challenge now is to quickly revert to 9 percent growth and then aim for double digit growth; need to make recovery more broadbased
-- Second challenge is to make growth more inclusive; have to strengthen food security
-- Third challenge is to overcome weakness in government's public delivery mechanism; a long way to go in this.
