Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has presented the Union Budget 2016. With an eye on supporting the small tax-payer and the small investor, the Minister announced a slew of schemes, and income tax exemptions. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley did not change income tax slabs in his third Budget, but he did tweak some deductions and announced multiple new cesses, which will impact tax liability for the common man.
Highlights of Union Budget 2016
Tax
- Infrastructure and agriculture cess to be levied.
- 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 entrpreneurs
- 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 cover upto 1 lakh per family.
- National Dialysis Service Prog 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 cr 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 hectares 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.
Following is a list of items that will turn costlier
1.Cars
2.Cigarettes
3.Cigar
4.Tobacco
5.All services like bill payments, eating out, air travel
6.Ready made garments and branded apparel of more than Rs 1,000
7.Gold and Silver; jewelery articles excluding silver
8.Water including mineral water, aerated water containing added sugar or sweetening matter
9.Goods and services above Rs 2 lakh in cash
10.Aluminum foil
11.Air Travel
12. Plastic bags and sacks
13.Ropeway, cable car rides
14.Imported imitation jewellery
15.Industrial solar water heater
16.Legal services
17.Lottery tickets
18.Traveling by hiring stage carriage
19.Hiring of packers & movers
20.E-reading devices
21. Instruments for VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)
22.Imported Golf Cars
23. Gold bars
Following is a list items that will turn cheaper
1.Footwear
2.Solar lamp
3.Router, broadband modems and set top boxes, Digital video recorder and CCTV cameras
4.Hybrid electric vehicles
5.Sterilised dialyser
6.Low cost houses with less than 60 sq mt carpet area
7.Hiring of folk artists for performance
8.Refrigerated containers
9.Pension plans
10.Microwave ovens
11.Sanitary pads
12.Braille paper.
