Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget 2018-19 in Parliament on February 1, 2018. This is the last budget of current government before India goes to polls for the General Elections due to take place in 2019. In case you missed his speech, here are the key takeaways -
Salaried tax-payers to get a standard deduction of ₹40,000 in lieu of transport allowance and “other medical expenses”.
Govt introduces long-term capital gains on equity market; long-term capital gains over Rs 100,000 to be taxed at 10%.
Corporate tax reduced has been reduced from 30 percent to 25 percent for companies with turnover up to Rs 250 crore.
Emoluments of the President to be revised to Rs 5 lakh per month & emoluments of the Vice-president to be revised to Rs 4 lakh per month. The Govt is proposing changes in refixing salaries of Members of Parliament. Law will provide automatic revision of emoluments of the MPs every 5 years indexed to inflation.
National Health Protection Scheme, providing a health insurance cover of ₹5 lakh per family per year to cover over 10 cr poor families announced.
Free power connections to 4 crore homes under Saubhagya Yojana.
Eight crore free gas connections for poor women through Ujjwala Yojana.
Govt. has set a target to construct at least 2 crore toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission.
Govt. aim that by 2022, all poor people have a house to live in.
Govt. to implement minimum support price (MSP) for all crops; It is hiked to 1.5 times of production costs.
Plans to expand airport capacity more than 5 times to handle a billion trips a year.
Wi-Fi, CCTVs will be provided in every station and escalators will be provided in stations with more than 25,000 footfalls. In the coming year, there will be a focus on up gradation of signalling and use of fog safety devices.
600 railway stations across the country have been picked for modernisation and 4,000 km of railway network is set to be commissioned for electrification.
Allocation on Digital India scheme doubled to Rs 3,073 cr.
Customs duty on mobile phones increased from 15% to 20%.
By 2022, every block with over 20,000 tribals and over 50 percent STs will have a special Eklavya school.
Government proposes establishment of two new Schools of Planning and Infrastructure. To address brain drain issue in the country, a new scheme to identify bright students studying B Tech in top engineering schools and allow them opportunity to study and do research in IITs and Indian Institute of Science. Selected students to get special fellowships and will be expected to teach in institutes of higher education, particularly in rural areas.
Rs 1 lakh crore has been proposed for revitalising and upgrading education sector.