ALL HIGHLIGHTS OF BUDGET

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee began presenting the Union budget for 2010-11 in the Lok Sabha today after the Cabinet approved the document. Here are some of the highlights of his budget speech.

Union Budget 2010

·        The Indian economy was facing grave uncertainty. Growth had started decelerating when the interim and full budget for 2009-10 were presented.

·        At home there was added uncertainty because of subnormal southwest monsoon.

·        Yet, the economy now in a far better position than it was
eight years ago.

·        India weathered the economic crisis well.

·        First challenge before the government is to quickly revert to
high GDP growth path of 9%.

·        Expects 10% economic growth in the near future.

·        Second challenge is to harness economic growth to make it more inclusive and consolidate gains.

·        Third challenge is to overcome weakness in government's public delivery mechanism; a long way to go in this.

·        Impressive recovery in the past few months. Can witness
faster recovery in the coming months.

·        Food security has been strengthened.

·        But bottleneck of the public delivery mechanism can hold us back.

·        Fiscal year 2009-10 was challenging for the economy.

·        Focus shifted to non-governmental actors and an enabling government. Government now concentrates on supporting and delivering services to the poorer sections.

·        Economy stabilised in the first quarter of 2009 itself.

·        18.5% manufacturing growth in December was the highest in two decades.

·        Figures for merchandise exports for January encouraging
after turnaround in November and December last year.

·        Double digit food inflation last year due to bad monsoon
and drought-like conditions.

·        Government conscious of the price rise and taking steps to tackle it.

·        Erratic monsoon and drought-like conditions forced supply-side bottleneck that fuelled inflation.

·        Need to review stimulus imparted to economy last year to overcome the recession.

·        Need to ensure that the demand-supply imbalance is managed.

·        Need to make growth more broad-based.

·        Need to review public spending and mobilise resources.

·        Status paper on public debt within six months.

·        Government hopes to implement direct tax code from April 2011.

·        Earnest endeavour to implement general sales tax in April 2011.

·        Government will raise Rs25,000 crore from divestment of its stake in state-owned firms.

·        Kirit Parekh report on fuel price deregulation will be taken up by petroleum minister Murli Deora in due course.

·        Nutrient-based fertiliser subsidy scheme to come into force from April 1 this year.

·        Nutrient-based fertiliser subsidy will reduce volatility of subsidy and also reduce it.

·        Market capitalisation of five public-sector undertakings listed since October increased by 3.5 times.

·        FDI inflows steady during the year. Government has taken
series of steps to simplify FDI regime. Intends to make FDI policy user friendly by compling all guidelines into one document.

·        Government has decided to set up apex-level Financial
Stability and Development Council.

·        RBI considering issuing banking licences to private companies. Non-banking finance companies will also be considered if they meet the criteria.

·        Government to provide Rs16,500 crore to public-sector
banks to maintain tier-I capital.

·        Government to continue interest subvention of 2% for one more year for exports covering handicrafts, carpets,
handlooms and small and medium enterprises.

·        Government to provide Rs300 crore to organise 60,000 pulse and oilseed villages and provide integrated intervention of watershed and related programmes.

·        Rs200 crore provided for climate-resilient agriculture
initiative.

·        Government committed to ensuring continued growth of
special economic zones.

·        Need to take firm view on opening up of the retail sector.

·        Deficit in foodgrains storage capacity to be met with private-sector participation.

·        Period for repayment of loans by farmers extended by six months to June 30, 2010, in view of the drought and floods in some parts of the country.

·        Interest subvention for timely repayment of crop loans raised from 1% to 2%, bringing the effective rate of interest to 5%.

·        Road transport allocation raised by 13% to Rs19,894 crore.

·        Proposal to maintain thrust of upgrading infrastructure in rural and urban areas. IIFCL authorised to refinance infrastructure projects.

·        Rs1,73,552 crore provided for infrastructure development.

·        Allocation for railways fixed at Rs16,752 crore, an increase of Rs950 crore over the last financial year.

·        Government proposes to set up Coal Development Regulatory Authority.

·        Mega power plant policy modified to lower cost of generation; allocation to power sector more than doubled to Rs5,130 crore in 2010-11.

·        Government favours competitive bidding for coal blocks for captive power plants.

·        Rs500 crore allocated for solar and hydro projects for the Ladakh region in Jammu & Kashmir.

·        Clean Energy Fund to be created for research in new energy sources.

·        Allocation for new and renewable energy ministry increased by 61% to Rs1,000 crore.

·        One-time grant of Rs200 crore provided to Tirupur textile cluster in Tamil Nadu.

·        Allocation for National Ganga River Basin Authority doubled to Rs500 crore.

·        Alternative port to be developed at Sagar Island in West Bengal.

·        Draft of Food Security Bill ready, to be placed in the public domain soon.

·        Outlay for social sectors pegged at Rs1,37,674 crore, accounting for 37% of the total plan allocation.

·        Plan allocation for school education raised from Rs26,800 crore to Rs31,036 crore in 2010-11.

·        25% of plan outlay earmarked for rural infrastructure development.

·        Plan allocation for health and family welfare increased to Rs22,300 crore from Rs19,534 crore.

·        For rural development, Rs66,100 crore have been allocated.

·        Allocation for National Rural Employment Guarantee Authority stepped up to Rs40,100 crore in 2010-11.

·        Indira Awas Yojana's unit cost raised to Rs45,000 in the plains and Rs48,500 in hilly areas.

·        Allocation for urban development increased by 75% to Rs5,400 crore in 2010-11.

·        1% interest subvention loan for houses costing up to Rs20 lakh extended to March 31, 2011; Rs700 crore provided.

·        Allocation for development of micro and small-scale sector raised from Rs1,794 crore to Rs2,400 crore.

·        Rs1,270 crore provided for slum development programme, marking an increase of 700%.

·        Government to set up National Social Security Fund with initial allocation of Rs1,000 crore to provide social security to workers in the unorganised sector.

·        Government to contribute Rs1,000 per annum to each
account holder under the new pension scheme.

·        Exclusive skill development programme to be launched for textile and garment-sector employees.

·        Allocation for woman and child development increased by 80%

·        Plan outlay for the social justice ministry raised by 80% to Rs4,500 crore.

·        Plan allocation for minority affairs ministry raised from Rs1,740 crore to Rs2,600 crore.

·        Financial-Sector Legislative Reforms Committee to be set
up.

·        Rs1,900 crore allocated for Unique Identification Authority of India.

·        A unique identity symbol will be provided to the rupee in line with the US dollar, British pound sterling, euro and Japanese yen.

·        Defence allocation pegged at Rs1,47,344 crore in 2010-11
against Rs1,41,703 crore in the previous year. Of this, capital expenditure would account for Rs60,000 crore.

·        Planning Commission to prepare integrated action plan for
Naxal-affected areas to encourage "misguided elements" to eschew violence and join the mainstream.

·        Gross tax receipts pegged at Rs7,46,656 crore for 2010-11, non-tax revenues at Rs1,48,118 crore.

·        Total expenditure pegged at Rs11.8 lakh crore, an increase of 8.6%.

·        Fiscal deficit at 5.5%.

·        Fiscal deficit seen at 4.8% and 4.1% in 2011-12 and 2012-13, respectively.

·        Non-plan expenditure pegged at Rs37,392 crore and plan expenditure at Rs7,35,657 crore in budget estimates. Proposed increase of 15% in plan expenditure and 6% in non-plan expenditure.

·        Cash subsidy for fuel and fertiliser instead of previous practice of bonds to continue.

·        Fiscal deficit pegged at 6.9% in 2009-10 as against 7.8% in the previous fiscal.

·        Government's net borrowing to be Rs3,45,010 crore for 2010-11.

·        Income-tax department ready with two-page Saral-2 returns
form for individual salaried assesses.

·        Personal income-ax rates pruned:
Income up to Rs1.6 lakh — nil
Income above Rs1.6 lakh and up to Rs5 lakh — 10%
Income above Rs5 lakh and up to Rs8 lakh — 20%
Income above Rs8 lakh — 30%

·        Additional deduction of Rs20,000 allowed on long-term
infrastructure bonds for income-tax payers; this is above Rs1 lakh on savings instruments allowed already.

·        Investment-linked tax deductions to be allowed to two-star hotels anywhere in the country.

·        Investment-linked tax deductions to be allowed to two-star hotels anywhere in the country.

·        Weighted deduction of 125% for payments to approved associations doing social and statistical research.

·        One-time interim relief to housing and real-estate sector.

·        Businesses with a turnover of up to Rs60 lakh and professionals earning up to Rs15 lakh to be exempted from the obligation to audit their accounts.

·        Housing projects allowed to be completed in five years instead of four to avail of tax breaks.

·        Revenue loss of Rs26,000 crore on direct tax proposals.

·        Central excise duty on all non-petroleum products raised to 10% from 8%.