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Thu, 01 February 2018
BUDGET 'Agli baar Modi sarkar?'
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15:17 'Agli baar Modi sarkar?'
Central Hall of Parliament on Budget day was teeming with members of Parliament from almost all political parties. Most of them were waiting to greet Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on his fifth Budget, as well exchange a few words with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Aggarwal managed to make his way to Jaitley and tell him, 'Agli baar Modi sarkar'. The reason? For the first time the FM's Budget speech was in Hindi (quite a bit of it), which would work in the north. Also, the budget seemed pro-poor, another reason it could work.
While AIADMK and Telugu Desam members too made a beeline for Jaitley, one MP stood firm. Misa Bharti, member of Rajya Sabha and daughter of Lalu Prasad Yadav, chose to stay away from the rush, for obvious reasons.
14:38 Defence budget for 2018-19 hiked to Rs 2.95 lakh crores,
Defence outlay raised to Rs 2.82 lakh crore in 2018-19 from Rs 2.67 lakh crore in current year.
Defence ministry issues new figure for defence budget; Pegs it at Rs 2.95 lakh crore for 2018-19.
14:35 Here's what's costlier (lots), what's cheaper (some)
A large number of imported items including mobile handsets, cars and motorcycles, fruit juices, perfumes and footwear will become costlier as the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today hiked customs duties on these products in the Union Budget 2018-19.
However, select items such as imported raw cashew nuts, solar tempered glass and raw materials and accessories of cochlear implants will become cheaper with the government today reducing import duties on these items.
The following is a list of imported items that will become costlier:
* Cars and motorcycles
* Mobile phones
* Silver
* Gold
* Vegetable, fruit juices, including orange and cranberry
* Sunglasses
* Miscellaneous food preparations other than soya protein
* Perfumes and toilet waters
* Sunscreen, suntan, manicure, pedicure preparations
* Preparations for oral dental hygiene, denture fixative pastes and powders; dental floss
* Pre-shave, shaving or after-shave preparations,
* Deodorants, bath preparations, depilatories, perfumery
* Scent sprays and similar toilet sprays
* Truck and Bus radial tyres
* Silk Fabrics
* Footwear
* Coloured gemstones
* Diamonds
* Imitation jewellery
* Smart watches/wearable devices
* LCD/ LED TV panels
* Furniture
* Mattresses
* Lamps
* Wrist watches, pocket watches, clocks
* Tricycles, scooters, pedal cars, wheeled toys, dolls' carriages, dolls, toys, puzzles of all kinds
* Video game consoles
* Articles and equipment for sports or outdoor games, swimming pools and paddling pools
* Cigarette and other lighters, candles
* Kites
* Edible/vegetable oils such as olive oil, groundnut oil.
The following is the list of imported items that will become cheaper:
* Raw cashew nuts
* Solar tempered glass or solar tempered glass used for manufacture solar panels/modules
* Raw materials, parts or accessories used in making cochlear implants
* Select capital goods and electronics such as ball screws and linear motion guides.
14:17 Excise duty on fuel lowered, but road cess introduced
Duties on petrol, diesel rejigged; basic excise duty lowered by Rs 2 per litre, Rs 6 additional excise duty abolished, but Rs 8 a litre road cess introduced.
14:05 PAN a must for transactions above Rs 2.5 lakh
Government makes PAN mandatory for any entity entering into a financial transaction of Rs 2.5 lakh or more.
PAN to be used as Unique Entity Number for non-individuals from April 1.
13:46 This budget has a solution for removing poverty: PM
Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks on the Union budget 2018.
- This budget has a solution for removing poverty
- This budget has devoted attention to all sectors, ranging from agriculture to infrastructure
- From food processing to fiber optics, roads to shipping, youth to senior citizen, rural India to Ayushmaan Bharat, Digital India to Start Up India, this budget strengthens hopes and aspirations of crores of Indians
- This budget is farmer friendly, common citizen friendly, business environment friendly and development friendly. It will add to 'Ease of Living'
- The farmers, Dalits, tribal communities will gain from this budget. The budget will bring new opportunities for rural India
- I congratulate the Finance Minister for the decision regarding MSP. I am sure it will help farmers tremendously
13:11
FM has failed fiscal consolidation test, this failure will have serious consequences: Congress leader P Chidambaram reacts to Budget 2018.
13:08 Mobile phones to become costlier, cashewnuts cheaper
Customs duty on mobile phones to be hiked to 20 per cent from 15 per cent.
Customs duty on raw cashew cut from 5 pc to 2.5 pc.
13:07
The Central Board of Excise and Customs has been renamed as Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs.
13:00 LTCG above Rs 1 lakh taxed at 10%, Sensex crashes
Long term capital gains exceeding Rs 1 lakh from sale of equities to be taxed at 10% without allowing benefit of indexation if the share is sold after January 31, 2018, says Jaitley.
Soon after he made the announcement the BSE Sensex crashed by over 400 points, to recover a little subsequently. But it is clear the investors are deeply upset over this move.
12:56
Some of the other measures unveiled by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget were:
Distributed income of equity oriented mutual funds to be taxed at the rate of 10 per cent.
Education cess increased to 4 pc from 3 pc to collect additional Rs 11,000 cr.
Cash payments exceeding Rs 10,000 by trusts and institutions will be disallowed in a bid to curb cash economy.
Rs 7.5 lakh per senior citizen limit for investment in interest-bearing LIC schemes doubled to Rs 15 lakh.
No adjustment to be made in case circle rate does not exceed 5 pc of sale consideration.
Corporate tax reduced by 25 pc extended to companies with turnover of Rs 250 cr to benefit small, micro and medium enterprises.
12:51
Speech done, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley commends the Budget to the House, and moves the Finance Bill 2018.
12:50 Sensex crashes over news of LTCG tax
The BSE Sensex has crashed by over 400 points, following news of the government imposing a tax of 10% on long term capital gains from sale of equities.
12:43 No change in personal I-T rates
No changes in personal income-tax rates, says Jaitley. However, he grants salaried tax-payers a standard deduction of Rs 40,000 towards transport and medical allowance.
12:40
Senior citizens can claim tax deduction of Rs 50,000 towards medical expenses.
12:39
Goverment earmarks Rs 150 cr to commemorate 150 years of birth of Mahatma Gandhi, says Jaitley.
12:32
National Insurance Co, Oriental Insurance Co and United Assurance Co to be merged into one entity and subsequently listed, says Jaitley.
12:28
Government does not consider crypto-currency as legal; will take all measures against its illegal use, says Jaitley.
12:28 Gold monetisation scheme to be revamped
Government to formulate a comprehensive gold policy to develop gold as an asset class; gold monetisation scheme to be revamped.
12:25 Government revises fiscal deficit target
The government has revised its fiscal deficit for 2017-18 to 3.5% of the GDP, against the targeted 3.2%
For 2018-19, against the expected 3.2%, the government revises the target to 3.3% of GDP.
12:22 Govt revises norms for MPs' pay hike; Prez, VP get a raise
The emoluments for President, vice president and governors which were last revised in 2006, is being revised, says Jaitley.
Accordingly, the President will now by paid Rs 5 lakh a month, vice president will get Rs 4 lakh and governors will get Rs 3.5 lakh a month.
Turning his attention to MPs' salaries, which right now they decide for themselves, Jaitley says the government plans to refix their salary, constituency allowance etc. The law will now provide for automatic renewal of MPs renewal every 5 years, indexed to inflation.
12:17 Divestment target for 2018-19 set at Rs 80K cr
We have exceeded our divestment target for the current fiscal and raised Rs 1 lakh crores this year, says Jaitley, and sets a target of Rs 80,000 crores for 2018-19.
12:09 Airports' capacity to be raised by 5 times
The government will boost the passenger handling capacity across India's airports by 5 times, says Jaitley.
12:06
10 prominent tourist sites to be developed as iconic tourist spots, says Jaitley.
12:05
Government allocates Rs 17,000 crores for Mumbai's suburban rail network.
12:04
Government to take additional measures to strengthen the environment for venture capitalists and angel investors, says Jaitley.
12:03 PF relief for women employees
Employees PF Act to be amended to reduce the contribution of women to 8 pc from 12 pc with no change in employer's contribution, says Jaitley.
12:00
Rs 4.6 lakh cr sanctioned under MUDRA scheme, says Jaitley, and the target for loan disbursement under this scheme has been set at Rs 3 lakh crore for next fiscal.
The mass formalisation of MSME sector is happening after demonetisation and GST, he says.
11:48
Two new schools of planning and architecture to be set up; 18 more in IITs and NIITs, says Jaitley.
11:47
Government to launch Prime Minister's Research Fellow Scheme this year which will identify 1000 BTech students to do PhD at IITs etc, announces Jaitley.
11:45
Rs 16,000 cr to be spent on providing electricity connection to 4 cr poor households, says Jaitley.
11:45
1 cr houses to be built under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in rural areas, says Jaitley.
11:43 Jaitley grants Rs 5 lakh hospitalisation a year, benefits 10 cr families
We are launching a flagship national health scheme to cover 10 crore poor families, or approximately 50 crore beneficiaries, providing up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary hospitalisation. Adequate funds will be provided for this, says Jaitley.
11:35 Govt announces Eklavya schools for tribal students
Committed to providing the best education to tribal students in their own environment, says Jaitley, and announces the setting up of Eklavya schools on par with Navodaya schools.
11:33
Institutional credit to agriculture to be raised to Rs 11 lakh cr in 2018-19, says Jaitley.
11:32
Government to allocate Rs 500 cr for 'operation green' to promote farmer produce organisations, agri logistics and processing, says Jaitley.
11:30
My government will set up a dedicated affordable housing fund in National Housing Bank, says Jaitley.
11:26 Kisan credit cards extended to fisheries and animal husbandry
I propose to extend kisan credit cards to fisheries and animal husbandry sectors, says Jaitley.
Will work on governments purchasing surplus solar electricity, he says.
Setting up fishery and aquaculture development fund and animal husbandry fund, with a total corpus of Rs 10,000 crores.
11:21
Food processing sector is growing at 8% per annum. Allocation of Rs 715 cr is being doubled to Rs 1400 crores, says Jaitley.
Rs 2000 crores has also been allotted for building infra at agricultural mandis and farmer markets.
11:16
His government is committed to minimum support price of 150% of input price per farm, says Jaitley.
11:13 We want farmers to earn more, says Jaitley
Our emphasis is on generating higher income for farmers, and want to help farmers produce more from the same parcel of land and realise higher prices for their produce, says Jaitley.
11:12
Jaitley is now talking of the measures his government has taken to improve the quality of life of the citizen.
The Direct Benefit Transfer is the biggest such example, he says.
11:08 On track to 8% growth, says Jaitley
On purchasing power parity basis we are already the 3rd largest economy.
We hope to grow at 7.2 to 7.5% in the 2nd half.
Manufacturing sector is back on growth path, services sector too has resumed its high growth rate at 8%.
We are firmly on track to achieve high growth of 8%, says Jaitley.
11:06
All the structural reforms will help the Indian economy grow in the medium and long term, says Jaitley.
11:05 FM Jaitley starts reading out his speech
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley rises to present the Union Budget 2018-19, the last full Budget of the BJP-led NDA government before the 2019 general elections. The Budget comes ahead of the upcoming assembly polls in eight states this year.
While P Chidambaram had presented the previous UPA government's vote-on-account in February 2014, Jaitley had presented a full budget in July that year, making this his fifth.
The current Budget will be the first budget post the implementation of the GST regime.
10:57
Just In: Union Cabinet approves the Union budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's speech to begin shortly.
10:57 Jaitley arrives in Parliament
Man of the hour, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley arrives in Parliament to present his government's fifth and final Budget, to an explosion of flashbulbs and television boom mikes.
10:35 Budget papers pass the final test
The Union Budget papers are being given the final once-over by sniffer dogs at Parliament House. Soon they will be taken into the august House to be presented by the finance minister.
Photograph: ANI.
10:18 Sensex rebounds, crosses 36,000-mark
The benchmark BSE Sensex regained the 36,000-mark by rebounding over 171 points in opening trade as investors built up positions ahead of the Union budget to be unveiled by the finance minister today.
The 30-share BSE index, which had lost 318.23 points in the previous two sessions, recovered 171.38 points, or 0.47 per cent, to 36,136.40. Similarly, the NSE Nifty moved up 49.70 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 11,077.40.
Fresh positions created by retail and domestic institutional investors on hopes of an investor-friendly and growth-oriented budget lifted the sentiment, brokers said.
Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com.
10:12 An action-packed day awaits Jaitley
Obviously today is a hectic day for Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who has reached Parliament House.
If you thought it ended with the presentation of the Union Budget in Parliament, you are mistaken.
According to Press Information Bureau, this is what his day looks like:
FM's #Budget2018 speech in Parliament: 11 AM
FM's interview: 2 PM
Post-budget press conference: 4 PM
Discussion with Economic Advisory Council: 4:30 PM
#AskYourFM Talkathon: 7 PM.
Let's hope the evening brings some respite...
10:01 Join the Rediff ZaraBol discussion on Budget
What do you think Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will do today?
What do you think he SHOULD do today?
Join the bustling Union Budget discussion on Rediff ZaraBol, here!
09:53 Budget papers arrive in Parliament
And... the Union Budget papers have arrived in Parliament!
Photograph, courtesy ANI.
09:47 Expect Jaitley to speak mostly in Hindi today
In a break from tradition, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is likely to deliver significant portions of his Budget speech on Thursday, particularly those related to the farm sector, in Hindi, report Indivjal Dhasmana and Archis Mohan in Business Standard.
In his previous four Budgets, the FM, who is adept at speaking in both English and Hindi, has been known to intersperse his mostly English speech with Hindi and Urdu couplets and explanatory observations.
However, sources said the FM's fifth and final Budget speech of the current term of the Narendra Modi government will be truly bilingual, with Jaitley speaking at length in Hindi to reach out to the Hindi heartland.
Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi received much appreciation for delivering his speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos in Hindi.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has consistently spoken in Hindi at media interactions with visiting dignitaries and on international forums, such as the United Nations General Assembly. Former prime minister A B Vajpayee had, as India's external affairs minister, addressed the UN General Assembly in Hindi for the first time in the late 1970s.
The Budget is expected to address rural distress and the common man by focusing on agriculture, job creation, and health.
The speech will be the government's way to reach out to the common man to present its most important economic document.
09:40
Kaushik Basu, who served as chief economic advisor to the UPA government from December 2009 to July 2012, tweets: 'Reading India's Economic Survey 2017-18 it is clear that the Survey is in very good shape. I wish I could say the same for what it surveys.'
09:37 Jaitley calls on President Kovind
Ahead of presenting his government's last full Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley called on President Ram Nath Kovind this morning.
Rashtrapati Bhavan has tweeted: 'As per tradition, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley calls on #PresidentKovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan before presenting the Union Budget.'
09:21 NGO calls for transparency, citizen's budget
Claiming that the budgetary process in India was not transparent enough, an NGO has urged the government to place more information related to the budget in the public domain.
As Finance Minister Arun Jaitley gears up to present the Union Budget 2018-19 today, the NGO, Transparency International India, said on parameters of international standards on budget transparency, the Indian budget was considered "less transparent" as it put only "limited" information in the public domain.
"Budgetary process in India is still non-transparent, non-participative with poor accessibility by citizenry," it said in a press release.
While the government "boasts its intentions of transparency", India ranks low on indicators representing budget transparency, it said, demanding greater openness in the budgetary process.
"India is not one of the most transparent countries. India scored 48 on 100 in the open budget survey of 2017. It is interesting to see that all the major powers of the world do have better transparency in their budget processes as compared to other countries," it said.
This meant that for a nation to emerge as a promising democracy, "transparency in the system" would be a key factor, it said. "India among its neighbouring countries fares better than all but Bangladesh. Economically not as sound as India, Bangladesh has better transparency than India in its system," the statement said.
Despite its utmost importance, the state budget in India remains "one of the most intractable of documents, incomprehensible for ordinary citizens, specialists and non- specialists alike", it said.
This makes it difficult for the people to participate in shaping public policy, the NGO said.
"The lack of budget transparency cannot simply be treated only as a serious violation of democratic rules and good governance. It leads to severe economic and financial problems related to the spread of corruption and waste...," it said.
Knowledge of the state budget should not be limited to experts and specialists, the release said.
"It's high time now for a citizen's budget for easy understanding of the total budgetary revenue and expenditure statements, the mid-year review pre-budget statement and the audit report to be published on time, not published online or produced only for government use," it said.
The budget in India was "still more or less the exclusive domain of the civil servant due to quite a complex system and procedure", it said.
Transparency International India describes itself as a "non-political, independent, non-governmental anti-corruption organisation".
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