Infographics: Pranab's 'gift' to aam aadmi

Giving relief to individual taxpayers, the government on Monday raised the income tax exemption limit by Rs 10,000 for general taxpayers, and by Rs 15,000 for senior citizens.

It was the worst Budget day for Dalal Street with the Bombay Stock Exchange index plunging over 869 points on concerns of widening fiscal deficit.

In Budget 2009, the defence services have been allocated Rs 141,703 crore (Rs 1,417.03 billion) for 2009-10, a 34 per cent hike from 2008-09.

The government realised a low indirect tax revenue at around Rs 2.81 lakh crore (Rs 2.81 trillion) in 2008-09 against budget estimates of Rs 3.21 lakh crore (Rs 3.21 trillion).

The revenue deficit is projected at 4.8 per cent of GDP.

The Centre's fiscal deficit is estimated to be 6.8 per cent of GDP in 2009-10 against the low of 2.5 per cent projected for the previous fiscal a year ago.

The government's subsidy bill on food, fertiliser and petroleum, among others, will fall by about Rs 18,000 crore (Rs 180 billion) at Rs 111,275 crore (Rs 1112.75 billion) this fiscal, mainly due to sharp reduction in the urea dole-outs.

With a view to insulate the employment-oriented export sectors from the global meltdown, the finance minister, has extended the interest subvention scheme beyond the current deadline of September 30, 2009.