New Delhi: Following are the highlights of the 2021-22 Budget presented Monday by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament
Fiscal position and health outlay
Spending on healthcare hiked by 137 per cent to over Rs 2.23 lakh crore
Rs 35,000 crore outlay for COVID vaccine in fiscal beginning April 1
India currently has two COVID-19 vaccines available, two more vaccines are expected soon
Sharp increase in capital expenditure for next fiscal to Rs 5.54 lakh crore, up from Rs 4.39 lakh crore of last fiscal
Fiscal deficit set for current fiscal at 9.5 per cent, against 3.5 per cent budgeted
Fiscal deficit for next fiscal pegged at 6.8%, government to borrow Rs 12 lakh crore
Committed to bring down fiscal deficit below 4.5 per cent of GDP by 2025-26
TAX PROPOSALS
ITR filing not mandatory for senior citizens above 75 years, banks to deduct TDS
Time bar for reopening I-T assessment cases halved to 3 years, for serious frauds it is 10 years
Income tax return filers increased to 6.48 crore in 2020 from 3.31 crore in 2014.
Agri infra cess of 2.5% on gold, silver and dore bars; 35% per cent on apples. It means gold will be costlier.
Agri infra cess of 30% on Kabuli chana, 10% on peas, 50% on Bengal gram/chickpeas, 20% on lentil (mosur), five per cent on cotton
Rs 2.5 per litre agri infra cess on petrol, Rs 4 on diesel
New Agri Infra Development Cess to be applicable from February 2
Tax department to notify rules to remove hardships of double taxation faced by NRIs
Tax holiday for startups, capital gains exemption extended by 1 year
Tax exemption for aircraft leasing companies; tax exemption for notified affordable housing for migrant workers.
Rs 1.5 lakh tax deduction on payment of interest for affordable housing extended by 1 year
Customs duty on certain auto parts, solar equipment raised
Allocation and reforms
FDI in insurance increased to 74% from 49%
Disinvestment target pegged at Rs 1.75 lakh crore
BPCL, IDBI Bank, two more PSU banks, one insurance company to be privatised among others
PSU Bank recapitalisation pegged at Rs 20,000 crore next fiscal
Aatmanirbhar health programme with an outlay of Rs 64,180 crore to be introduced
Government to introduce a bill to set up development financial institution with an outlay of Rs 20,000 crore
Voluntary vehicle scrapping policy to phase out old vehicles; fitness tests after 20 yrs for personal vehicles
National monetisation pipeline for potential brownfield infrastructure assets
Rs 3,726 crore for forthcoming Census which will be the first digital census.