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PM Narendra Modi led government decided to break tradition this year to announce the union budget ahead of time this year.

With the hard blow dealt on people’s backs by last year’s demonetization policy, there are much expectations from this budget that is expected to give people some reason to be happy.

As of right now, Finance Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley is presenting the annual budget in the parliament. We intend to bring you all the latest news from the session to keep you up to date on it.

All latest announcements shall be updated here on this blog. Keep refreshing for new feed.

The highlights so far…

Promises made to encourage employment for SC/STs through opportunities in horticulture.

The overall Budget approach is to spend more in rural areas and poverty alleviation said Mr. Jaitley.

On the subject of farmer’s income, the FM said,

• We will double farmer income in 5 years
• Boost social security and housing security for the poor
• Data advancement to improve farmers
• Adequate credit will be made available to the farmers
• Credit for farmer to boost tractor sale
• Model law for contract farming to be adopted
• MNREGA to improve farmers productivity

Agriculture sector will grow with better monsoon this year. The agriculture sector will grow at 4.1% in current year and agricultural credit at Rs 10 lakh crore.

The government’s intentions for the education sector have been as follows:

• Emphasis on science education and curriculum design
• Innovation fund will be created for secondary education, it will include ICT enabled transformation.
• Reforms proposed in UGC.
• Colleges will be identified on outcome-based accreditation.
• Swayam platform launched, students can access courses by best faculty, take test and access academic grades.
• National testing agency will be established which will conduct national level examination to free CBSE from holding these exams and relieve them.
• Market relevant training for youth

Allocation for rural and agricultural sector will be Rs. 1,87,223 crore in 2017-18

Five special tourism zones will be set up which will be structured as special purpose vehicles. Promises for schemes for employment in textile, leather and footwear sectors.

Allocation for women and children rises from Rs 1,56,528 crore to Rs 1,84,632 crore.

On health sector, he said:

• Healthcare High on Agenda
• 25000 PG seats in medicines
• New Rules Regarding Medical Devices Will Be Formulated
• Will Attract Investment in Sector
• Importance to policies aimed at SC/ST and minorities
• Will reduce cost of life-saving drugs
• 2 new AIIMS in Gujarat and Jharkhand
• Aadhaar based smart cards for seniors

There will be provisions for 22% increase in railway budget.

Highway allocation up to Rs 64,000 crore

Arun Jaitley on Energy and Crude oil:

• To set up new crude oil reserves
• Strategic oil reserves to be raised to 15.33 mm
• Total allocation for infrastructure 3.96 lakh crores for 2017-18
• To take up second phase of solar power development for additional 20,000 mw
• Over 250 proposals for electronic manufacturing received in last 2 years.

The infrastructure allocation in Union Budget 2017 set at a record Rs 3,96,135 crore.

Airports authority act to be amended to allow monetization of land, funds to be used for upgrade of airports.

The Foreign Investment Promotion Board will be abolished. A new FDI policy is under consideration. The revised procedure will list PSU firms. New exchange traded fund consisting of PSU stock to be launched in 2017-18.

Arun Jaitley announces Rs 10,000 crore for bank capitalization.

PM Mudra Yojsana - double lending target from 2016'17 will now be Rs. 2.44 lakh crores with priorities to Dalit, minority and women.

Head Post Office to act as front offices for Passport services

National Testing Agency to be established to conduct all entrance exams for higher education

Total expenditure of Budget 2017-18 is Rs 21.47 lakh crore. Capital expenditure has increased by almost 25%. Total resources allocated to states at Rs 4.11 lakh crore. Defence expenditure (excluding pensions) will amount to Rs 2.74 lakh crore.

Fiscal deficit intended at 3.2% in 2017-18 and 3% in 2018-19. Revenue deficit for 2017-18 at 1.9%.

No capital gain on selling your house after 2 years.

Limit on cash transactions above 3 lakhs.

Limit on maximum amount of cash donation a political party can receive in cash at Rs. 2000 from a particular source. The cap was Rs. 20,000 earlier.

Corporate Income Tax on medium and small enterprises reduced. MSMEs with turnover of 50 crore will get a 5% reduction in corporate income tax.

Foreign portfolio investors exempted from indirect transfer provisions. Foreign investors will not have to pay tax after cashing out of offshore derivatives with India assets.

The much awaited tax policies were as follows:

• Income Tax rate for annual income between Rs 2.5 lakh to 5 lakh reduced to 5% from 10%.
• Zero tax liability for people with annual income of Rs 3 lakh.
• Surcharge of 10% on individuals earning between Rs. 50 lakh to Rs. 1 crore.
• Tax liability of Rs 2,500 for annual income between Rs 3 lakh and 3.5 lakh. No tax for Rs 4.5 lakh annual income if using exemption under 80C of I-T Act.
• All this would imply about 50% savings in income for someone earning up to Rs 5 lakh.

No changes in excise and service tax regime as the tax proposals would result in loss of Rs 22,700 crore.

Payment regulatory board to be created at the RBI as watchdog for e-wallets like Paytm.

The Union Budget session 2017-18 ended with much speculations and addresses from the Oppositions and the economy gurus. It will be interesting to see how far the government succeeds in fulfilling all the promises made in the address.

Further, the railway budget is scheduled to be announced at the end of the month. Stay tuned to find out what all it has to offer.