Highlights on Union Budget 2018-19

Union budget

Finance Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley has delivered the Union Budget 2018-19 on 1^st February, 2018 stating the following editions in varied segments of the economy:

No changes to personal income tax slabs.
Salaried tax payers to get standard deduction of Rs.40,000 in lieu of transport allowance and “other medical expenses”
Rs. 2,000 crore fund for development of agricultural market
All senior citizens will now be able to claim benefit of a deduction of Rs. 50,000 for any medical insurance.
For critical illnesses, the deduction has been increased to Rs. 1, 00,000.
Free power connections to 4 crore homes under Saubhagya Yojana
8 crore free gas connection for poor women through Ujjwala Yojana
Implementation of Minimum Support Price for all crops; MSP hiked to 1.5 times of production costs.
Contribution of 12% of wages for new employees among all sectors.
New Flagship National Health Protection Scheme, providing health insurance cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family per year announced.
Railway capex for the year 2018-19 set at Rs. 1.48 lakh crore.
Disinvestment target for this year set at 80,000 crore.
Government’s health scheme to cover 10 crore poor families is world’s largest government-funded health protection scheme.
Tax on long term capital gains exceeding Rs. 1 lakh at 10 per cent without indexation.
Electronic IT assessment will be rolled out across the country, leading to greater efficiency and transparency
Mobile phones set to become costlier as custom duty on them has been increased to 20 per cent.
Health and education cess has been increased to 4 per cent.
Companies with turnover of up to Rs. 250 crore to be taxed at 25 percent.
Fiscal deficit of 3.3% of GDP for 2018-19.
5 lakh Wi-Fi hotspots will be set up in rural areas to provide easy internet access.
Government will take all steps to eliminate use of crypto-currencies which are funding illegitimate transactions.
Government announces Amrut program to focus on water supply to all households in 500 cities. Water supply contracts for 494 projects worth Rs 19,428 core will be awarded.
NITI Aayog will establish a national programme to direct our efforts in the area of Artificial Intelligence towards national development
Airport capacity to be hiked to handle 1 billion trips every year.
4,000 km of new railway track will be laid down by 2019.
All railways stations with footfall more than 25,000 to have escalators,
Mumbai transport receives Rs. 40,000 crore.
The government will undertake re-development of 600 major railway stations across the country.
National Heritage City Development Augmentation Scheme has been undertaken to preserve and protect heritage cities in the country.
Infrastructure is the growth driver of economy
Target of 3 lakh crore for lending under PM Mudra Yojana
MSME enterprises are a major element for growth, says Jaitley. He also added that mass formalisation of MSME sector is happening after demonetisation and GST.
Government aims to bring 60 crore bank accounts under the Jan Dhan Yojana.
Eklavya schools to be started for Scheduled Tribe populations
Rs. 600 crore allocated to Tuberculosis patients undergoing treatment.
Government will set up two new Schools of Planning and Architecture,
To tackle brain drain, Jaitley announces scheme to identify bright students pursuing B Tech in premiere engineering institutes, and providing them higher-education opportunities in the IITs and IISc. These students will receive handsome fellowships, and will be expected to dedicate a few hours to teach in higher education institutions weekly.
Specialised Railway University to be set up at Vadodara.
Proposal for integrated B. Ed. programme for teachers. Mr. Jaitley said, “Training of teachers during service is essential. Technology will be the biggest driver in improving the quality of education.”
Budget allocates money for social security and protection programme for all widows and orphaned children.
A target to provide all Indians with their own homes by 2022,
Ujjwala scheme to amplify targets, will now provide 8 crore rural women free LPG connections.
Air pollution in Delhi-NCR has been a cause of concern, government has proposed subsidised machinery for in-situ management of crop residue in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT Delhi.
A sum of Rs. 500 crore for ‘Operation Green’ on the lines of ‘Operation Flood’.
Food processing sector is going at an average of 8 per cent per annum.
Our government has worked sincerely, and without weighing the political costs, hoping that benefits are delivered to people at their doorsteps. The Direct Benefit Transfer system of India is a success story that is reiterated across the world: Jaitley.
The finance minister also pointed out that India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
Indian economy has performed very well since our government took over in May 2014, says Arun Jaitley.