Finance Minister P. Chidambaram today presented the Interim Budget for 2014-15 in Lok Sabha. Here are the Budget 2014 highlights:
* Income tax rates kept unchanged;
* 10 pc surcharge on ‘super-rich’ having annual income above Rs 1 crore to continue;
* 5 pc surcharge on corporates with turnover of Rs 10 cr
* Fiscal deficit at 4.6 pc in 2013-14 and 4.1 pc next year, revenue deficit at 3 pc in 2013-14;
* Current Account Deficit to be USD 45 bn as against USD 88 bn in 2012-13;
* Excise duty on small cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles cut from 12 to 8 pc;
* Excise duty on SUVs cut from 30 to 24 pc
* Large and mid-segment cars from 27-24 pc to 24-20 pc
* Excise duty on mobile handset to be 6 pc on CENVAT credit to encourage domestic production
* Defence allocation increased by 10 per cent to Rs 2.24 lakh crore;
* Excise duty cut on capital goods, non consumer durables cut from 12 to 10 per cent
* Moratorium on interest on student loans taken before March 31, 2009; to benefit 9 lakh borrowers
* USD 15 bn addition to forex exchange in 2013-14;
* Disinvestment target for FY14 cut to Rs 16,027 cr versus Rs 40,000 cr; next year govt eyeing Rs 36,925 cr;
* Lowers residual stake sale target to Rs 3,000 cr from Rs 14,000 cr for this fiscal;
* Foodgrain production estimated at 263 million tonnes in 2013-14;
* Govt obtains information in 67 cases of illegal offshore accounts of Indians;
* Govt’s net borrowing in next fiscal to be Rs 4.57 lakh cr;
* Plan expenditure cut by Rs 79,790 cr for current fiscal;
* Allocates Rs 1,000 cr more to Nirbhaya Fund;
* CCI cleared 296 projects worth Rs 6.6 lakh cr by end Jan;
* GDP to grow by at least 5.2 pc in Q3 and Q4 in 2013-14;
* Plan expenditure for 2014-15 at Rs 5.55 lakh cr and non-plan at Rs 12.08 lakh cr;
* Govt to infuse Rs 11,200 cr in PSU banks next fiscal;
*Government gets Rs 88,188 cr as dividend from PSUs, Rs 14,000 crore more than budgeted
* PSUs to achieve record capex of Rs 2.57 lakh crore in 2013-14,
* 500 MW fast breeder test reactor in Kalpakkam to be ready shortly; 7 nuclear power reactors under construction.
* National Solar Mission to undertake 4 ultra mega solar power projects in 2014-15;
* Rs 1,200 crore additional assistance to N-E states to be released before end of the year;
* Rs 3,370 crore transferred to 2.1 crore LPG users this fiscal
* Govt committed to Aadhaar-based LPG transfer but scheme on hold temporarily.
* Rs 2,46,397 crore allocated for food, fertiliser and fuel subsidy.
* Rs 500 crore estimated requirement for implementing one-rank-one-pay scheme for armed forces in 2014-15;
* Exports target at USD 326 bn in FY14; up 6.3 pc;
* Minority bank accounts have swelled to 43,53,000 by 2013-14 from 14,15,000 bank accounts in 10 years;
* Govt proposes to set up debt management office; to be operational next fiscal.
