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Major Highlights of The Interim Budget 2019-20
Interim Budget 2019-20 was presented in Parliament by the Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs, Railways & Coal, Shri Piyush Goyal.
- Besides having a major Scheme for the farmers, it provides tax sops and sets the Developmental Agenda for the years to come.Â
- A New Deal for 12 Crore Small and Marginal farmers with direct income support.
- A path breaking Pension initiative for 10 Crore unorganized sector workers.
- Exemption of income up to Rs 5 lakhs from Income Tax.
- Reforms in stamp duty.
- Highest ever budgetary allocation of Rs 3 lakh crore for Defence.
- Record allocation of funds at Rs 58,166 crore for North Eastern Areas.
- A new AIIMS for Haryana.
- Single window clearance for Indian film makers at par with foreigners
- Higher budgetary allocations for Education, Health, Infrastructure and for the welfare of weaker sections including Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
- To provide sustained and focused attention towards development of Fisheries, the Government has decided to create a separate Department of Fisheries. The Government aims at promoting further growth over 7% to promote livelihood of about 1.45 crore people dependent on the sector.
- The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion will now be renamed as the Department for Promotion of Industries and Internal Trade.
Interim Budget
- An Interim Budget is not the same as a ‘Vote on Account’. While a ‘Vote on Account’ deals only with the expenditure side of the government’s budget, an Interim Budget is a complete set of accounts, including both expenditure and receipts.
- An Interim Budget gives the complete financial statement, very similar to a full Budget.
- Full Budget deals with both expenditure and revenue side but Vote-on-account deals only with the expenditure side of the government’s budget.
- The vote-on-account is normally valid for two months but full budget is valid for 12 months (a financial year).
- As a convention, a vote-on-account is treated as a formal matter and passed by Lok Sabha without discussion. But passing for budget happens only after discussions and voting on demand for grants.
Agriculture and Farmer Welfare:Â
- Budgetary allocation of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Ministry has been raised by around 2.5 times
Pradhan Mantri KIsan SAmman Nidhi (PM-KISAN):
- Extends direct income support at the rate of Rs. 6,000 per year to farmer families, having cultivable land upto 2.
- Under this Government of India funded Scheme, Rs.2,000 each will be transferred to the bank accounts of around 12 crore Small and Marginal farmer families, in three equal instalments.
- 2% interest subvention to the farmers pursuing the activities of animal husbandry and fisheries, who avail loan through Kisan Credit Card. Further, in case of timely repayment of loan, they will also get an additional 3% interest subvention.
Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog:
- Allocation of Rs.750 crore for Rashtriya Gokul Mission has been announced for the current year itself. Setting up of “Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog” to upscale sustainable genetic upgradation of cow resources and to enhance production and productivity of cows has also been announced.
- The Aayog will also look after effective implementation of laws and welfare schemes for cow.
Pradhan Mantri Shram-Yogi Maandhan:
- To provide pensionary benefits to at least 10 crore labourers and workers in the unorganised sector a new Scheme has been announced.
- A sum of Rs.500 crore has been allocated for the Scheme.Â
North Eastern Areas:
- Allocation for the North Eastern Areas is being proposed to be increased by 21% to Rs 58,166 crore in 2019-20 BE over 2018-19.
Tax Benefits:
- Individual taxpayers having taxable annual income up to Rs.5 lakhs will not be required to pay any income tax.
- Additional deductions such as interest on home loan up to Rs. 2 lakh, interest on education loans, National Pension Scheme contributions, medical insurance and medical expenditure on senior citizens etc, are also provided for in the Interim Budget 2019-20.
- Thus tax benefit of Rs. 18,500 crore is proposed to be provided to an estimated 3 crore middle class and small taxpayers comprising self-employed, small business, small traders, salary earners, pensioners and senior citizens.
- For salaried persons, Standard Deduction is being raised from the current Rs.40,000 to Rs.50,000. This will provide additional tax benefit of Rs. 4,700 crore to more than 3 crore salary earners and pensioners.
- Exemption on levy of income tax on notional rent on a second self-occupied house is also now proposed. Currently, income tax on notional rent is payable if one has more than one self-occupied house.
- TDS threshold on interest earned on bank/post office deposits is being raised from Rs.10,000 to Rs.40,000.
- TDS threshold for deduction of tax on rent is proposed to be increased from Rs. 1,80,000 to Rs.2,40,000 for providing relief to small taxpayers.
Inflation:
- The Finance Minister said that the Government has been successful in bringing down average inflation to 4.6% over last five years.
Fiscal Deficit:
- The fiscal deficit has been brought down to 3.4% in 2018-19 RE from the high of almost 6% seven years ago.
Reaching out to the most deprived:
- Committee under NITI Aayog will be set up to complete the task of identifying De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic communities not yet formally classified.
- Welfare Development Board under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to be set up to implement welfare and development programmes for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic communities.
Railways:
- Vand Bharat Express launched with world class experience, speed, service and safety.
Stamp duties:
- Necessary amendments have been proposed to levy Stamp duties on one instrument relating to one transaction and get collected at one place through the Stock Exchanges. The duty so collected will be shared with the State Governments seamlessly on the basis of domicile of buying client
Space technology:
- Higher budget allocation for Space technology.
- The Finance Minister said that seventh dimension of our vision for the next decade aims at the Outer Skies.
- The space programme – Gaganyaan, India becoming the launch-pad of satellites for the World and placing an Indian astronaut into space by 2022 reflect this dimension of our vision.
The Finance Minister pointed out that after completion of the fiscal deficit consolidation programme, the Government would now focus on Debt consolidation. He said “We have maintained the glide path towards our target of 3% of fiscal deficit to be achieved by 2020-21. India’s Debt to GDP ratio was 46.5% in year 2017-18. The FRBM Act prescribes that the Debt to GDP ratio of the Government of India should be brought down to 40% by 2024-25. Â
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Also see:
| Interim Budget |
| Budget Procedure and Transfer of Funds |
| Important Economic Terms related to union budget UPSC Prelims Exam |
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