Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced a host of new schemes to be implemented once the new government assumes power. Among the planned projects are a housing scheme for the middle class, rural India, island development, tourism promotion, road, railway, airways, and infrastructure development, tech innovation push, and farmer-focused actions, among others.
She also said that the focus of her government will continue to be on improving service to taxpayers. She said that tax filing has been made simpler and the refund timeframe has been brought down from the previous 90 days to just 10 days.
She also highlighted that corporate tax had been reduced to 22% to spur growth. Sitharaman said: "Our Government will adopt economic policies that foster and sustain growth, facilitate inclusive and sustainable development, improve productivity, create opportunities for all, help them enhance their capabilities, and contribute to the generation of resources to power investments and fulfil aspirations."
Here are the highlights of the Union Interim Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday.
TAXATION
In keeping with convention, FM Sitharaman proposed not to make any changes to the income tax slabs.
Outstanding direct tax demands will be withdrawn up to ₹25,000 pertaining to the period up to financial year 2009-10 and up to ₹ 10,000 for financial years 2010-11 to 2014-15. The move is expected to benefit about a crore tax payers.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the capital expenditure outlay in the past 4 years had tripled and had a huge impact on economic growth and employment creation. Hence, the outlay for the next year is being increased by 11.1% to Rs 11,11,111 crore. "This would be 3.4 per cent of the GDP," she said
She said all forms of infrastructure, physical, digital or social, are being built in record time.
The Centre plans to launch a new housing scheme for the middle class. "Our Government will launch a scheme to help deserving sections of the middle class living in rented houses, or slums, or chawls and unauthorized colonies to buy or build their own houses," Sitharaman said.
Two crore more houses under the PM Awas Yojana (Grameen) will be taken up in the next five years to meet the requirement arising from an increase in the number of families.
The electric Vehicle ecosystem will be expanded by supporting manufacturing and charging infrastructure. Greater adoption of e-buses for public transport networks will encourage payment security mechanism as well.
Through rooftop solarization, one crore households will be enabled to obtain up to 300 units of free electricity every month. "This scheme follows the resolve of Hon’ble Prime Minister on the historic day of consecration of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya," Sitharaman said.
AGRICULTURE & FOOD PROCESSING
Government to provide financial assistance to 11.8 crore farmers under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi with ₹6,000 per year aid to each farmer in three equal instalments. Crop insurance will be provided to 4 crore farmers.
After the successful adoption of nano urea, the application of nano Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) on various crops will be expanded in all agro-climatic zones.
"For ensuring faster growth of the sector, our Government will further promote private and public investment inpost-harvest activities including aggregation, modern storage, efficient supply chains, primary and secondary processing and marketing and branding," Sitharaman.
CONNECTIVITY AND TOURISM
New road, rail, freight, and port corridors have been planned across the country.
Indian airline firms are buying 1,000 new aircraft and 517 new air routes have been planned under Udan scheme.
"To address fervour for domestic tourism, projects for port connectivity, tourism infra & amenities will be taken on our islands, including Lakshadweep," FM Sitharaman said
The recently announced India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor is a strategic and economic game changer for India and others, Sitharman said.
NORTHEAST
Sitharaman said that the government will pay utmost attention to making the eastern region and its people a powerful driver of India’s growth.
HEALTHCARE
Sithraman said that the government plans to set up more medical colleges by utilizing the existing hospital infrastructure under various departments. "A committee for this purpose will be set up to examine the issues and make relevant recommendations," she said.
The government also plans campaigns to promote vaccination for girls in the age group of 9-14 years for the prevention of cervical cancer.
The Centre has also lined up various schemes for maternal and child care under one comprehensive programme for synergy in implementation. Upgradation of anganwadi centres under “Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0” will be expedited for improved nutrition delivery, early childhood care and development, Sitharaman said.
The Centre will extend healthcare cover under the Ayushman Bharat scheme to all ASHA and Anganwadi workers and helpers.
RESEARCH, INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY
Calling the future a "golden era" for the tech-savvy youth, Sitharman announced a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore with a fifty-year interest-free loan facility. "The corpus will provide long-term financing or refinancing with long tenors and low or nil interest rates. This will encourage the private sector to scale up research and innovation significantly in sunrise domains," she said.
Sitharaman also announced a new scheme for strengthening deep-tech innovations.
RAILWAYS
Three major economic railway corridor programmes will be implemented by the next government. These are:
- energy, mineral and cement corridors,
- port connectivity corridors, and
- high traffic density corridors.
The projects will be implemented under the PM Gati Shakti to enable multi-modal connectivity. This will go a long way in boosting logistics capabilities and cost reduction.