Budget 2021 Speech HIGHLIGHTS: BJP Leaders Praise FM Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget, Opposition Calls It 'Election Jumla'
Budget 2021 FM Nirmala Sitharaman Speech LIVE Updates: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented Union Budget on Monday asserting government's effort to reset the economy with a massive push to healthcare sector. However, there was not much relief for middle class taxpayers in her fiscal plans for 2021 as Sitharaman decided to keep the income tax rates unchanged. Keep refreshing this page to get all LIVE UPDATES:
"This Budget is the Budget of self-reliant India. All sections of the society have been taken care of in this Budget. I believe this is the Budget to turn the disaster into an opportunity during COVID pandemic": Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan.
"Union Budget 2021 is balanced and has clarity on all aspects. I congratulate Finance Minister for bringing such a budget despite the adverse impacts of COVID-19,": Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
About Union Budget 2021, Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh alleged that it reflects the union government's "persistent efforts to sideline" non-BJP ruled states, news agency PTI reported.
Speaking to ABP News, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari lauded the Union Budget 2021. He called it a "Win-win for all".
"When farmers were dying you didn't spend for them but chose to buy Air India Planes. Why so?" He remarked when asked about Congress' objection to the government's disinvestment plan. He explained that the centre will let go control of the areas where it is not generating enough revenue.
I will give this budget a 10 on 10, he said.
In the Union budget presented in Parliament on Monday, the Central government allocated Rs.2,596.14 crore to sports budget for the next financial year 2021-22, less by Rs.230.78 crore -- or, 8.16 per cent -- allocated in the previous fiscal. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has been allocated Rs.660.41 crore, which is an increase from the Rs.500 crore that was allocated in the last budget.
The budget 2021 has been presented in an unprecedented situation. It is inclusive and is dedicated to the welfare of all people of India: BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda
The Congress on Monday criticised the Modi-led NDA government for giving a sizeable chunk of the infra-Budget to the election-bound states of Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and termed the Budget as "road for vote" and full of election "jumlas".
Congress Assam chief Ripun Bora said, "So, the BJP government has made Parliament the place to launch election manifestos for the Assembly elections. This Budget is nothing more than an election manifesto full of jumlas".
“The budget 2021 is extremely positive, driving the country towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat by laying huge stress on health care, infrastructure, banking and insurance, textile and agriculture that will aid the country not only towards economic revival but also spur growth. The Infrastructure spending is going up by 34% through NIP and a welcome Focus on boost in Road and Railway infrastructure with new economic corridors planned will certainly help the growth of the logistics sector and will lead to enhancing trade in the country," Rajiv Agarwal, CEO and MD, Essar Ports Ltd said.
"The Union Budget 2021-22 was truly a transformative one as it pulled out all levers within its ambit to mark yet another successful attempt by the government to rejuvenate a pandemic ravaged economy. The bold measures which encompassed almost all critical sectors of the economy are expected to galvanize the recovery process which has been set into motion," said Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII.
"CII is happy to note that the Budget ticked all the right boxes of lives, livelihood and growth which would propel the economy to an inclusive growth trajectory. We expect the reform process to continue beyond the budget announcements as well," he said.
The Indian economy is expected to rebound strongly in 2021-22 owing to the reform measures undertaken by the government, the Union Budget document said on Monday. It further said that the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is projected to contract by 7.7 per cent in 2020-21 as compared to a growth of 4.2 per cent in 2019-20.
"We chose to spend big on infra across a wide variety of sectors. We have attended to the needs of the health sector, capacity building in health given a big place," Sitharaman said while speaking to reporters
Budget 2021 comes at a time when all of us desire to give greater impetus to the economy, we thought this impetus would be qualitatively spent well and give the needed demand push if we spend big on infrastructure: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
"Today's Budget shows India's confidence and will instil self-confidence in the world. The Budget has the vision of self-reliance and features every section of the society," PM Narendra Modi said adding that Budget has been presented amid unprecedented circumstances.
We have taken the approach of widening new opportunities for growth, new openings for our youth, a new high to human resources, develop new regions for infrastructure, walking towards technology & bring new reforms with this Budget: PM Narendra Modi on Union Budget
The Budget focuses on increasing farmers' income, several measures have been taken in this direction. Farmers will be able to get loans easily. Provisions have been made to strengthen APMC markets with the help of Agriculture Infrastructure Fund: PM Narendra Modi
Ministry of Defence allocated Rs 4,78,195.62 crores. Excluding pensions, it is pegged at Rs 3.62 lakh crore from last year’s Rs 3.37 lakh crore. Ministry of Home Affairs allocated Rs 1,66,546.94 crores.
To boost digital payments, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday proposed a Rs 1,500 crore scheme during her budget presentation. "To give a further boost to digital transactions, I earmark Rs 1,500 crore for a proposed scheme that will provide financial incentive to promote digital mode of payment," Sitharaman said.
The Indian stock markets lauded the Union Budget FY22 with the BSE Sensex gaining over 1,600 points. Banking and finance stocks surged after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that two public sector banks will be privatised apart from the IDBI Bank and one general insurance company.
Around 1.10 p.m., Sensex was trading at 47,949.11, higher by 1,663.34 points or 3.59 per cent from its previous close of 46,285.77. The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange was trading at 13,826.45, higher by 191.85 points or 1.41 per cent from its previous close.
The Congress on Monday criticised the Centre for failing to address the farm issues and termed the Union Budget as 'Kisan Vidrohi'.
In a tweet on Monday soon after the Budget presentation, Congress leader Jaiveer Shergill said, "BJP Govt reading laundry list of hollow reforms in agri sector is case of failed student reading his/her forged report card; Budget failed to increase MSP, no increase in meagre allocation under KisanSammanYojna, no loan waiver-Farmer continues to get stabbed by Kisan Virodhi BJP.
In a bid to increase demand in the realty market, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday announced to extend the additional deduction of up to Rs 1.5 lakh for interest paid on loans of purchase of affordable houses, up to March 2022. The deduction so far was allowed on housing loans sanctioned on or before March 31, 2021.
Further, in order to boost the supply of affordable houses in the country, the Budget proposed a tax holiday on profits earned by developers of affordable housing project approved by March 31, 2021.
The government has pegged its target for disinvestment for FY 2021-22 at Rs 1.75 lakh crore. A major announcement made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was that the government will privatise two public sector banks other than IDBI Bank. One general insurance company will also be privatised in the coming fiscal, she said.
The government on Monday proposed extension of the eligibility for claiming tax holiday and capital gains exemption for investment in startups till March 31, 2022.
"In order to incentivise startups in the country, I propose to extend the eligibility for claiming tax holiday for startups by one more year to March 31, 2022," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
Presenting the first paperless Union Budget, she further said: In order to incentivise funding for the startups, I propose to extend the capital gains exemption for investment in startups by one more year to March 31, 2022".
No relief for common taxpayers as Finance Minister concluded her Budget speech without mentioning about Income Tax slab which means that IT slabs remains unchaged for 2020-21 fiscal.
Fiscal deficit in 2020-21 pegged at 9.5 per cent of Goods and Services Tax (GST). We would need another Rs 80,000 crores for which we would be approaching the market in these two months: FM Nirmala Sitharaman
- Finance Minister Sitharaman announced some policies to make it easy for foreign investors to invest in India's infrastructure projects.
- She oroposed to make dividend payments to REIT (estate investment trusts) and Invit's (Infrastructure investment trusts) exempt from TDS
- To make it easy for tax payers to file Income Tax returns, details of capital gains and interest from banks, post offices, etc will be pre-filled.
In a rejoice for Non-residential Indians, FM Nirmala Sitharaman said that NRIs will be spared from double taxation. Even their tax audit limit has been increased from Rs 5 crore to Rs 10 crore.
"We have made substantial changes in the Direct Tax System. We slashed our Corporate Tax rate to make it lowest in the world," FM Sitharaman said. She also added that govt will set-up a faceless dispute resolution mechanism for small taxpayers and proposes to reduce time allowed to re-open tax investigation to 3 years vs 6 years now.
Those above 75 years will not have to pay Income Tax nor there will be need for them to Income Tax Return, announced Nirmala Sitharaman.
"In 75th year of Independence of our country, we shall reduce compliance burden for senior citizens. For senior citizens who only have pension and interest income, I propose exemption of filing of income tax returns," Sitharaman announced.
To further extend efforts towards unorganised labour force, I propose to launch a portal to collect relevant information on gig workers, building/construction workers among others. It'll help formulate health, housing, skill, insurance credit &food schemes for migrant workers: FM Sitharaman
I propose to take concrete steps to increase funding for National Infrastructure Pipeline:
1. By creating institutional structures
2. By monetising assets
3. By enhancing share of capital expenditure in Central and State Budgets:
"More than 15,000 schools will be strengthened under NEP 2020. For further setting up of Higher Education in Ladakh under NEP 2020, I propose to set up a central university in place," FM Sitharaman announced.
She also said that as many as 100 new Sainik Schools will be made adding that there are other 'umbrella' structures to be created for higher education.
Our Govt is committed to the welfare of farmers. The MSP regime has undergone a change to assure price that is at least 1.5 times the cost of production across all commodities: FM
Finance Minister also said that five operational roads are being transferred to National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). Rs 7,000 crore assets to be transferred to Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (PGCOI).
She also said that Railways will monetize dedicated freight corridor assets for O&M, after commissioning. Even next lot of airports to be monetised for operations & management concessions, she added.
Sharp increase of 34.5 per cent in capital expenditure as compared to previous budget estimates - resulting in allocation of Rs 5.54 lakh crore echoing the government's effort to spend more on capital expenditure, despite resource crunch: FM
In 2021-22 we would also bring the IPO of LIC for which I am bringing the requisite amendments in this session itself: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
"I am providing a record sum of Rs 1,10,055 crores for Railways of which Rs 1,07,100 crores is for Capital Expenditure only," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced adding that Indian Railways has prepared a National Rail Plan for India 2030. The plan is to create a future-ready railways system by 2030 - bringing down logistic cost for industry is at the core of a strategy to enable Make in India.
"Safety measures undertaken in past yrs have borne results. To further strengthen, high-density network &highly utilised network routes of Railways will be provided with indigenously developed automatic train protection system that eliminates train collision due to human error," she said.
Urban Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 with outlay of Rs 1,41,678 crore over 5 years from 2021. Focused on complete fecal sludge management, waste water treatment, source segregation, management of waste from urban construction, bioremediation of legacy dump sites: FM Sitharaman
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that Insurance Act will now be amended to increase FDI limit to 74 per cent from exisiting 49 per cent.
Jal Jeevan Mission Urban to be launched, outlay Rs 2.87 lakh crore over 5 years. Aimed at universal water supply in all 4,378 urban local bodies, with 2.86 crore household tap connections & liquid waste management in 500 AMRUT cities: FM Sitharaman
Moving forward, Finance Minister also proposed several Highway works including 3,500 km corridor in Tamil Nadu, 1,100 km in Kerala at investment of Rs 65,000 crore,
675 km in West Bengal at a cost of Rs 95,000 crore and 1,300 km in Assam in the next 3 years.
FM Sitharaman, in her speech, also mentioned that Budget 2021 focuses on self-reliance, starting with health & well being. A sum of Rs 2,200 cr on clean air and Rs 35,000 cr on Covid vaccination drive and additional Rs 64,000 cr on health schemes has been announced.
FM Sitharaman announced the PM Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana with a corpus of Rs 64,000 crore. FM announced an outlay for health infrastructure over 6 years to be Rs 64,180 crore, which she said is a substantial increase.
A new centrally sponsored scheme PM Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana will be launched with an outlay of about 64,180 crores over 6 years: FM Sitharaman
FM also said that the Budget 2021 proposals rest on six pillars:
1. Health and Well-Being
2. Physical and Financial capital and infrastructure
3. Inclusive Development for Aspirational India
4. Reinvigorating Human Capital
5. Innovation and R&D
6. Minimum Govt., Maximum Governance
FM Announces Aatma Nirbhar Health Yojna and said that government has allocated a Budget of Rs 64,180 crore for the same. "The government will set up a total of 15 health emergency centres which will further strengthen National Center for Disease Control," she said.
India now has one of the lowest Covid-19 death rates of 112 per million population and one of the lowest active cases of about 130 per million. This has laid the foundation for the economic revival we see today: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament
"This Budget will be the first of this new decade. Budget 2021 will also be a digital budget. I borrow the words from Rabindranath Tagore, Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark. In this spirit, I can't help but recall the joy that we as a Cricket loving nation felt after Team India's recent spectacular success in Australia: FM Sitharaman
The government stretched its resources for the benefit of the poorest of the poor. The PM Garib Kalyan Yojana, the three Aatma Nirbhar Bharat packages and subsequent announcements were like five mini-budgets in themselves: FM Nirmala Sitharaman
"Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark," FM Nirmala Sitharaman quotes Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in her Budget speech.
Today India has 2 vaccines available and has begun safeguarding not only her own citizens against COVID-19 but also those of 100 or more countries. It has added comfort to know that 2 ore more vaccines are also expected soon: FM Nirmala Sitharaman
"The total financial impact of all Aatma Nirbhar Bharat packages, including measures taken by was about Rs 27.1 lakh crore, more than 13% of GDP," FM Sitharaman said.
"The preparation of this Budget was undertaken in circumstances like never before, in view of calamities that have affected a country or a region within a country. But what we have endured with COVID-19 to 2020 is Sui generis," Finance Minister said in her opening remarks.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2021 in Lok Sabha amid uproar by Opposition leaders. Starting her Budget speech, Sitharaman raised hopes by stating that it will "be a Budget like never before."
As per latest updates, Union Cabinet has approved the Union Budget 2021. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Budget in Lok Sabha at 11 am today.
Meanwhile, Congress MPs Jasbir Singh Gill and Gurjeet Singh Aujla wear a black gown to the Parliament, as a mark of their protest against the three farm laws. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, BJP MP Hema Malini also arrived at the Parliament.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at the Parliament earlier in the day and chaired Cabinet's meeting ahead of the presentation of Budget 2021-22 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the Parliament today.
Several leaders including Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan have arrived at the Parliament. PM Modi is expected to reach shortly. Some time back, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and MoS Finance & Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur reached the Parliament.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, MoS Finance & Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur and senior officials of the Ministry of Finance called on President Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan before presenting the Union Budget 2021-22. As per latest report, FM Sitharaman and her team has now arrived at the Parliament to present the 'historic Budget'.
Union Budget 2021 will be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha at 11 am today.
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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is all set to deliver her first ever paperless Union Budget in less than two hours from now. Earlier in the day, FM was seen carrying a tablet kept inside a red coloured cover with a golden coloured national emblem embossed on it.
Dressed in crisp yellow silk saree, accompanied by MoS Finance Anurag Thakur and other officials from her ministry, Sitharam will meet President Ram Nath Kovind before presenting the budget at 11 am today.
The first phase of Rajya Sabha's Budget Session will be concluded two days ahead of the slated time with all political parties unanimously deciding on Sunday to end the sittings on February 13 in place of February 15.
Leaders of all political parties unanimously decided that the first part of the budget session would be conducted by February 13 so that the Parliamentary Committees attached to the Ministries and Departments can inquire into their demands for grants.
BSE Sensex jumped 464 points or 1 per cent higher at 46,749, while the broader Nifty 50 index was trading above the crucial 13,750, up 123 points or 0.90 per cent when the marfket opened. In the pre opening BSE Sensex jumped over 550 points or 1.5 per cent, while the broader Nifty 50 index was trading above the crucial 13,650 in the pre-opening on Monday.
"Budget will be in accordance with people's expectations. Govt which functions on mantra of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas' gave new direction to India by announcing Aatmanirbhar package, protecting it from pandemic & bringing economy back on track swiftly", MoS Finance Anurag Thakur
MoS Finance Anurag Thakur performed a special pUja today ahead of the Budget session and said that the Modi government has been focused to bring development for the country and this historic budget will be for Atmanirbhar Bharat as India is reeling with the Covid crisis.
The country has been in a habit of watching the iconic briefcase in the hands of the Finance Minister since Independence but this year the budget is unique and keeping in mind of the Covid crisis the country is facing, India will witness its first paperless Budget.
As Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to table the Union Budget for the fiscal year 2021-2022 experts believe that the budget to be presented for the next fiscal must be a roadmap to get the world's fastest-growing major economy back on track, adding it must go beyond being just a 'bahi khata' or a ledger of accounts.
Background
India is keen to know what will unfold for them when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table the Union Budget for the fiscal year 2021-2022. While this year's budget is unique and is already making history by going paperless, people are anxious to know Nirmala Sitharaman will break the record of the past 100 years.
As India is still fighting the Covid 19 crisis and conquering its own battles to recover from the losses faced during the Covid 19 crisis, the common man is expecting Nirmala Sitharaman's budget to focus on spending for creating more employment, to develop rural areas, generous allocations for development schemes, putting more money in the hands of the average taxpayer and easing rules to attract foreign investments to bring the country's economy back on track.
Breaking a significant tradition, this year's Budget will be unique as it will be paperless due to the Covid 19 pandemic. This is the first time in the history of independent India that budget papers will not be printed, so as to minimize the possibility of social interaction and maintain social distancing norms.
This year, FM Nirmala Sitharaman also launched a mobile app by the name 'Union Budget Mobile App' for hassle-free access to Budget documents by the MPs and the general public using the simplest form of digital convenience. The app provides Budget 2021 Live Streaming and budget 2021 speech.
Calling it the "simplest form of digital convenience", the Finance Ministry stated, "The mobile app facilitates complete access to 14 Union Budget documents, including the Annual Financial Statement (commonly known as Budget), Demand for Grants (DG), Finance Bill, etc., as prescribed by the Constitution."
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