New Delhi, July 10 (IANS), The following are the highlights of the general budget for 2014-15 presented Thursday by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Lok Sabha:
* IT exemption limit for those below 60 raised from Rs.2 lakh to Rs.2.5 lakh; from Rs.2.5 lakh to Rs.3 lakh for senior citizens.
* Investment limit under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act raised to Rs.1.5 lakh.
* Deduction limit on account of interest on loan in respect of self-occupied house property raised from Rs.1.5 lakh to Rs.2 lakh.
* No change in surcharge for corporates; education cess to continue.
* Excise duty on cigarettes raised from 11 percent to 72 percent.
* Allocation of Rs.150 crore to improve safety of women in larger cities.
* Allocation of Rs.100 crore for “Beti bachao, beti padhao” (Protect the girl child, educate the girl child) programme.
* Allocation of Rs.500 to support Kashmiri Immigrants for rebuilding their lives.
* Total sanitation in every household by 2019.
* Colour TVs to cost less on reduced customs duties.
* Free baggage allowance raised from Rs.35,000 to Rs.45,000.
* Excise duty on footwear halved.
* Total expenditure in 2014-15 estimated at Rs.17,97,892 crore; plan expenditure estimated at Rs.12,19,892 crore.
* Budget will lay down steps aimed at 7-8 percent growth in next few years; aim is “Sub ke saath, sub ka vikas” (With everyone, For everyone’s development).
* Government committed to achieve fiscal deficit of 4.1 percent in 2014-15, 3 percent by 2015-16 and 2 percent by 2016-17.
* Defence allocated Rs.229,000 crore; modernisation gets Rs.5,000 crore over and above interim budget.
* FDI in defence sector raised to 49 percent from 26 percent.
* Allocation of Rs.1,000 crore for implementing One Rank One Pension scheme.
* War Memorial and War Museum to be established at Princess Park in New Delhi; Rs.1,000 crore allocated.
* Allocation of Rs.50 crore for National Police Memorial.
* Allocation of Rs.2.037 crore for creating integrated Ganga conservation mission.
* Jal Marg Vikas programme to be launched to promote navigation on Ganga from Allahabad to Haldia.
* Ghat development at Kedarnath, Haridwar, Kanpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Patna and Delhi gets Rs.100 crore.
* Hastkala Academy to be set up with allocation of Rs.30 crore.
* Six more textile clusters to be set up with allocation of Rs.200 crore.
* Allocation of Rs.200 crore for power reforms and Rs.500 crore for water reforms to make Delhi a truly world-class city.
* E-visas to be introduced at nine airports.
* Five new tourist circuits to be established; Rs.500 crore to be allocated for this.
* World class convention centre to come up in Goa.
* National sports academies to be set up for disciplines like shooting, wrestling and boxing; Jammu and Kashmir gets Rs.200 crore to upgrade sports facilities; Sports university to come up in Manipur.
* Negative list for service tax reduced.
* Thirteen more airports to get 24×7 customs facilities.
* Excise duty to be cut to revive manufacturing.
* Revenue loss of Rs.22,000 crore due to direct tax proposals.
* Government committed to implement GST at the earliest; issues raised by states to be resolved.
* Gas pipeline grid of 15,000 km needs to be doubled.
* Six debt recovery tribunals to be set up.
* Bharat Depository Receipt to be created.
* Uniform KYC norms to be introduced across entire financial sector.
* Steps to revive SEZs.
* Sixteen new port projects to be taken up this fiscal.
* Development of industrial corridors with emphasis on smart cities linked to transport connectivity.
* Skill India to be launched to train the youth with emphasis on employability and entrepreneur skills.
* Target of constructing 8,500 km of national highways in current fiscal.
* Second Green Revolution to be launched with focus on protein revolution.
* Sustainable growth of 4 percent in agriculture to be achieved.
* Price Stabilisation Fund of Rs.500 Crore for mitigating risk of price volatility in agricultural produce.
* Corpus of Rs.5,000 crore for long-term loans to farmers.
* Kisan TV to be launched to disseminate information in real time.
* Allocation of Rs.14,389 crore for rural roads.
* Allocation of Rs.500 crore to provide 24×7 power in rural areas.
* Allocation of Rs.8,000 crore to improve rural housing.
* Allocation of Rs.100 crore for soil testing facilities.
* Allocation of Rs.50 crore for breeding of indigenous cattle.
* Allocation of Rs.500 crore to improve broadband connectivity in rural areas.
* New scheme to provide assured irrigation.
* Export promotion mission to be established to bring all stakeholders under one umbrella.
* FDI limit in insurance sector raised to 49 percent.
* Allocation of Rs.500 crore for 5 more IITs and 5 more IIMs.
* All states to get AIIMS like institutions.
* Allocation of Rs.100 crore to promote good governance.
* Allocation of Rs.3,600 crore for drinking water schemes.
* Allocation of Rs.4,000 crore for National Housing Bank.
* To print currency notes with Braille signs.
* Shares of PSU banks to be sold to retail investors.
* CBDT to scrutinize all cases under 2012 law on retrospective tax cases.
* Problem of black money to be fully addressed.
* Expenditure Management Commission to be established this fiscal.
The post India Budget 2014: Highlights contributed by IANS News Service