Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had her task cut out as she delivered her second budget today, with the Indian economy projected to grow at the slowest pace in a decade this fiscal year.The budget speech came at a time when tax collections have been falling and the fiscal deficit widening. But apart from the fiscal math, Sitharaman’s main challenge was to focus on jobs.When Prime Minister Narendra Modi was vying for the top job in 2014, he had promised to create 10 million new jobs were he given a five-year mandate. He was, but the jobs never came. To the contrary, the country is staring at its worst jobs numbers in more than four decades.This year’s economic survey, released just yesterday, sought to present before the government a framework, which it said, could lead to the creation of 80 million new jobs by 2030.

PROMINENT_THEMES_OF_THE_BUDGET

BUDGET_AT_A_GALANCE

TAX_PROPOSALS

• Concessional corporate tax rate of 15 per cent to new domestic companies in manufacturing and power sector .
• Tax concession for sovereign wealth fund of foreign governments and other foreign investments .
• Tax benefits to Start-ups by way of deduction of 100 per cent of their profits are enhanced by increasing turnover limit and period of eligibility.
• Concessional tax rate for cooperatives proposed.
• Turnover threshold for audit of MSMEs increased.
• Extension of time limits pertaining to the tax benefits for affordable housing.
• Issuance of Unique Registration Number to all charity institutions for easy tax compliance.
• Health cess to be imposed on imports of medical equipment given these are made significantly in India.
• Dividend Distribution Tax removed and classical system of dividend taxation adopted.
• Simplified GST return shall be implemented from 1st April 2020. Refund process to be fully automated.

AGRICULTURE_IRRIGATION_AND_RURAL_DEVELOPMENT

• PM KUSUM to cover 20 lakh farmers for stand alone solar pumps and further 15 lakh for grid connected pumps.
• Viability gap funding for creation of efficient warehouses on PPP mode.
• SHG run Village storage scheme to be launched.
• Integartion of e-NWR with e-NAM.
• “Kisan Rail” and “Krishi Udaan” to be launched by Indian Railways and Ministry of Civil Aviation respectively for a seamless national cold supply chain for perishables.
• Fish Production target of 200 lakh tonnes by 2022-23.
• Another 45000 acres of aqua culture to be supported.
• Fishery extention through 3477 Sagar Mitras and 500 fish FPOs.
• Raise fishery exports to 1 lakh crore by 2024-25 .

WELLNESS_WATER_AND_SANITATION

• More than 20 000 empanelled hospitals under More than 20,000 empanelled hospitals under PM Jan Arogya Yojana.
• FIT India movement launched to fight NCDs.
• “TB Harega Desh Jeetega” campaign launched to end TB by 2025 .
• Viability gap funding proposed for setting up hospitals in the PPP mode .
• Expansion of Jan Aushadhi Kendra Scheme to all districts by 2024.
• ODF Plus to sustain ODF behaviour.
• Focus on liquid and grey water management along with waste management.

EDUCATIONS_AND_SKILLS

• About 150 higher educational institutions will start apprenticeship embedded courses.
• Special bridge courses to improve skill sets of those seeking employment abroad.
• Internship opportunities to fresh engineers by urban local bodies.
• Knowledge Translation Clusters for emerging technology sectors
• Scaling up of Technology Clusters harbouring test beds and small scale manufacturing facilities.
• National Mission on Quantum Technologies and applications with an outlay of Rs.8000 crore proposed.

INDUSTRY_COMMERCE_AND_INVESTMENT

• Scheme to encourage manufacturing of mobile phones, electronic equipment and semi conductor packaging.
• National Technical Textiles Mission for a period of 4 years.
• NIRVIK Scheme for higher export credit disbursement launched.
• Setting up of an Investment Clearance Cell to provide end to end facilitation.
• Extension of invoice financing to MSMEs through TReDs.
• A scheme to provide subordinate debt for entrepreneurs of MSMEs CORPORATE TAX RATE CUT .
• Scheme anchored by EXIM Bank and SIDBI to handhold MSMEs in exports markets.

BUDGET_ALLOACTION_TO_DIFFERENT_SCHEMES