Economy- Budget 2017-18
Highlights of Budget 2017-18
* Demonetisation is a bold and decisive measure that will lead to higher GDP growth.
* NABARD fund will be increased to Rs. 40,000 crore.
- A dedicated micro irrigation fund will be set up for NABARD with Rs 5,000 crore
initial corpus. - The government will set up mini labs in Krishi Vigyan Kendras for soil testing.
- The government targets to bring 1 crore households out of poverty by 2019.
- The country well on way to achieve 100% rural electrification by March 2018.
- Will take steps to ensure participation of women in MGNREGA up to 55%.
- Rs. 500 crore allocated for Mahila Shakthi Kendras.
- During 2017-18, five lakh farm ponds will be taken up under the MGNREGA.
- A sum of Rs. 1,84,632 crore allocated for women and children.
- A sum of Rs. 10 lakh crore is allocated as credit to farmers, with 60 days interest
waiver. - Skill India mission was launched to maximize potential. Will set up 100 India
International centers across the country. - No service charge on tickets booked through IRCTC.
- Raksha coach with a corpus of Rs. 1 lakh crore for five years (for passenger safety).
- Unmanned level crossings will be eliminated by 2020.
- SMS-based ”clean my coach service” is put in place.
- By 2019 all trains will have bio-toilets.
- 3,500 km of railway lines to be commissioned this year up from 2,800 km last year.
- Five-hundred stations will be made differently-abled friendly.
- Coach Mitra facility will be introduced to register all coach related complaints.
- High-speed Internet to be allocated to 1,50,000 gram panchayats.
- Under a nationwide scheme for pregnant women, Rs. 6000 will be transferred to
each person. - Over Rs 3 lakh crore will be spent for rural India. MGNREGA to double farmers’
income. - Two AIIMS will be set up in Jharkhand and Gujarat.
- Digital India – BHIM app will unleash mobile phone revolution. The government will
introduce two schemes to promote BHIM App – referral bonus for the users and cash
back for the traders. - Aadhaar-based smart cards will be issued to senior citizens to monitor health.
Infrastructure and railways - FDI policy reforms – more than 90% of FDI inflows are now automated.
- Health sub centers, numbering 1.5 lakh, willl be transformed into health wellness
centres. - Elimination of tuberculosis by 2025 target.
- Dairy processing infrastructure fund will be initially created with a corpus of Rs.
2000 crore. - Rs. 64,000 crore allocated for highways.
- Swachh Bharat mission has made tremendous progress; sanitation coverage has
gone up from 42% on Oct 13 to 60% now. - Trade infra export scheme will be launched 2017-18.
- Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana lending target fixed at Rs 2.44 lakh crore for 2017-18.
- Easy online booking system for Army and other defense personnel.
- Fiscal situation
- Total expenditure is Rs. 21, 47,000 crore.
- Plan, non-plan expenditure is abolished; focus will be on capital expenditure, which
will be 25.4 %. - DBT to LPG consumers, Chandigarh is kerosene-free, 84 government schemes are on
the DBT platform. - Total resources transferred to States and Union Territories is Rs 4.11 lakh crore.
- The maximum amount of cash donation for a political party will be Rs. 2,000 from
any one source. - Expenditure for science and technology is Rs. 37,435 crore.
- The fiscal deficit of 2017-18 pegged at 3.2% of the GDP. Will remain committed to
achieving 3% in the next year. - Recommended 3% fiscal deficit for three years with a deviation of 0.5% of the GDP.
- Out of 13.14 lakh registered companies, only 5.97 lakh firms have filed returns for
2016-17. - Out of 76 lakh individual assessees declaring income more than Rs. 5 lakh, 56 lakh
are salaried. - Only 1.72 lakh people showed income of more than Rs. 50 lakh a year.
- Proposal to have a carry-forward of MAT for 15 years.
- The government proposes to reduce basic customs duty for LNG to 2.5% from 5%.
- Under the corporate tax, in order to make MSME companies more viable, there is a
proposal to reduce tax for small companies with a turnover of up to Rs 50 crore to
25%. About 67 lakh companies fall in this category. Ninety-six % of companies to get
this benefit. - Capital gains tax to be exempted for persons holding land from which land was
pooled for the creation of the state capital of Andhra Pradesh. - Simple one-page return for people with an annual income of Rs. 5 lakh other than
business income. - Rate of growth of advance tax in Personal I-T is 34.8% in the last three-quarters of
this financial year. - The limit of cash donation by charitable trusts is reduced to Rs 2,000 from Rs 10,000.
- Existing rate of tax for individuals between Rs. 2.5- Rs 5 lakh is reduced to 5% from
10%. - All other categories of tax payers in subsequent brackets will get a benefit of Rs
12,500. - The Income Tax Act to be amended to ensure that no transaction above Rs 3 lakh is
permitted in cash. - People filing I-T returns for the first time will not come under any government
scrutiny. - To boost the image of India in the international travel market Incredible India 2.0
The campaign will be unveiled across the world in the financial year 2017-18. - 100 crore has been allocated for Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual
Augmentation Drive (PRASAD). - Integrated Development of Tourist Circuits around specific themes under Swadesh
Darshan scheme. - The Union Budget 2017-18 has announced that Government will set up five Special
Tourism Zones in partnership with States.
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