Highlights - Union Budget - 2016

Top Highlights of the Union Budgets - 2016

• Infrastructure and agriculture cess to be levied.
• CPI inflation has come down to 5.4% from 9 plus.
• Excise duty raised from 10 to 15 per cent on tobacco products other than Beedis.
• 1 per cent service charge on purchase of luxury cars over Rs. 10 lakh and in-cash purchase of goods and services over Rs. 2 lakh.
• SUVs, Luxury cars to be more expensive. 4% high capacity tax for SUVs.
• Companies with revenue less than Rs 5 crore to be taxed at 29% plus surcharge
• Limited tax compliance window from Jun 1 - Sep 30 for declaring undisclosed income at 45% incl. surcharge and penalties
• Excise 1 per cent imposed on articles of jewellery, excluding silver.
• 0.5 per cent Krishi Kalyan Cess to be levied on all services.
• Pollution cess of 1 per cent on small petrol, LPG and CNG cars; 2.5 per cent on diesel cars of certain specifications; 4 per cent on higher-end models.
• Dividend in excess of Rs. 10 lakh per annum to be taxed at additional 10 per cent.

Personal Finance

• No changes have been made to existing income tax slabs
• Rs 1,000 crore allocated for new EPF (Employees' Provident Fund) scheme
• Govt. will pay EPF contribution of 8.33% for all new employees for first three years
• Deduction for rent paid will be raised from Rs 20,000 to Rs 60,000 to benefit those living in rented houses.
• Additional exemption of Rs. 50,000 for housing loans up to Rs. 35 lakh, provided cost of house is not above Rs. 50 lakh.
• Service tax exempted for housing construction of houses less than 60 sq. m
• 15 per cent surcharge on income above Rs. 1 crore

Social

• Rs. 38,500 crore for Mahatma Gandhi MGNREGA for 2016-17
• Swacch Bharat Abhiyan allocated Rs.9,500 crores.
• Hub to support SC/ST Entrepreneurs
• Government is launching a new initiative to provide cooking gas to BPL families with state support.
• LPG connections to be provided under the name of women members of family: Rs 2000 crore allocated for 5 years for BPL families.
• 2.87 lakh crore grants to gram panchayats and municipalities - a quantum jump of 228%.
• 300 urban clusters to be set up under Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission
• Four schemes for animal welfare.

Health

• 2.2 lakh renal patients added every year in India. Basic dialysis equipment gets some relief.
• A new health protection scheme for health covers upto 1 lakh per family.
• National Dialysis Service Programme with funds thru PPP mode to provide dialysis at all district hospitals.
• Senior citizens will get additional healthcare cover of Rs 30,000 under the new scheme
• PM Jan Aushadhi Yojana to be strengthened, 300 generic drug store to be opened

Education

• Scheme to get Rs.500 crores for promoting entrepreneurship among SC/ST
• 10 public and 10 private educational institutions to be made world-class.
• Digital repository for all school leaving certificates and diplomas. Rs. 1,000 crore for higher education financing.
• Rs. 1,700 crore for 1500 multi-skill development centres.
• 62 new navodaya vidyalayas to provide quality education
• Digital literacy scheme to be launched to cover 6 crore additional rural households
• Entrepreneurship training to be provided across schools, colleges and massive online courses.
• Objective to skill 1 crore youth in the next 3 years under the PM Kaushal Vikas Yojna-FM Jaitley
• National Skill Development Mission has imparted training to 76 lakh youth. 1500 Multi-skill training institutes to be set up.

Energy

• Rs. 3000 crore earmarked for nuclear power generation
• Govt drawing comprehensive plan to be implemented in next 15-20 years for exploiting nuclear energy
• Govt to provide incentive for deepwater gas exploration
• Deepwater gas new disc to get calibrated market freedom, pre-determined ceiling price based on landed price of alternate fuels.

Investments and infrastructure

• Rs. 27,000 crore to be spent on roadways
• 65 eligible habitats to be connected via 2.23 lakh kms of road. Current construction pace is 100 kms/day
• Shops to be given option to remain open all seven days in a week across markets.
• Rs. 55,000 crore for roads and highways. Total allocation for road construction, including PMGSY, - Rs 97,000 crore
• India's highest-ever production of motor vehicles was recorded in 2015
• Total outlay for infrastructure in Budget 2016 now stands at Rs. 2,21,246 crore
• New greenfield ports to be developed on east and west coasts
• Revival of underserved airports. Centre to Partner with States to revive small airports for regional connectivity
• 100 per cent FDI in marketing of food products produced and marketed in India
• Dept. of Disinvestment to be renamed as Dept. of Investment and Public Asset Management
• Govt will amend Motor Vehicle Act in passenger vehicle segment to allow innovation.
• MAT will be applicable for startups that qualify for 100 per cent tax exemption
• Direct tax proposals result in revenue loss of Rs.1060 crore, indirect tax proposals result in gain of Rs.20,670 crore

Agriculture

• Total allocation for agriculture and farmer welfare at Rs 35984 crores
• 28.5 lakh heactares of land wil be brought under irrigation.
• 5 lakh acres to be brought under organic farming over a three year period
• Rs 60,000 crore for recharging of ground water recharging as there is urgent need to focus on drought hit areas cluster development for water conservation.
• Dedicated irrigation fund in NABARD of Rs.20.000 cr
• Nominal premium and highest ever compensation in case of crop loss under the PM Fasal Bima Yojna.

Banking

• Banks get a big boost: Rs 25,000 crore towards recapitalisation of public sector banks. Jaitley says: Banking Board Bureau will be operationalised, we stand solidly behind public sector banks.
• Target of disbursement under MUDRA increased to 1,80,000 crore
• Process of transfer of government stake in IDBI Bank below 50% started
• General Insurance companies will be listed in the stock exchange
• Govt to increase ATMs, micro-ATMs in post offices in next three years