Transform, Energise & Clean Budget: Tax relief for middle class, MSMES; boost for farmers

With the overarching mantra of Transform, Energise and Clean India, Finance Minister ArunJaitley presented the Union Budget 2017 in parliament on February 1. “Our agenda for next year is to transform, energise and clean India,” said Mr Jaitley.

The budget maps the path for India’s economic recovery post-demonetisation and underscores that India will continue to remain the fastest growing major economy amid the gloomy global growth outlook. The budget promises to put more money into the pockets of the country’s poor and middle class by reducing tax rates for individuals with income between Rs 250,000-500,000 and cuts down tax rate for Medium and Small Enterprises by 5 per cent. In a first major step to cleanse the nexus of politics with black money, the budget also unveiled a potentially revolutionary step by putting a cap on cash donations to political parties to Rs 2,000.

Highlights of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s Budget speech

Our agenda for next year is to transform, energise and clean India
More steps will be taken to benefit farmers and the weaker sections; budget being presented during weak global economy
Pace of remonetisation has picked up; demonetisation effects will not spill over to next year
Functional autonomy of the railways to be maintained
Demonetisation will help in transfer of resources from tax evaders to government
Merger of Railways Budget with General Budget brings focus on a multi-modal approach for development of railways, highways and inland water transport
Only transient impact on economy due to demonetisation; long term benefit include higher GDP growth and tax revenue
GDP will be bigger, cleaner after demonetisation
Effects of demonetisation not expected to spill over to the next year
Govt took two tectonic policy initiatives – passage of GST Bill and demonetisation
Demonetisation was a continuation of series of measures taken by govt in 2 yrs; it is bold and decisive measure

We are seen as engine of global growth; IMF sees India to grow fastest among major economies
36 pc increase in FDI flow; forex reserves at USD 361 billion in January enough to cover 12 months needs
CAD declined from 1 pc last year to 0.3 pc in first half of current fiscal: FM
Uncertainty around commodity prices, especially oil to have impact on emerging economies
Double digit inflation has been controlled; sluggish growth replaced by high growth; war on blackmoney launched
We have moved from discretionary based administration to policy based administration: FM Jaitley
Agricultural sector is expected to grow at 4.1 per cent this fiscal, says Jaitley
Demonetisation was a bold and decisive strike in a series of measures to arrive at a new norm of bigger, cleaner and real GDP

Committed to double farm income in 5 yrs
Plan, non-plan classification of expenditure done away with in the Budget for 2017-18 to give a holistic picture
Mini labs by qualified local entrepreneurs to be set up for soil testing in all 648 krishivigyankendras in the country
Budget presentation advanced to help begin implementation of schemes before onset of monsoon
We will continue the process of economic reform for the benefit of poor
Spend more in rural areas, infra, poverty alleviation, while maintaining fiscal prudence as guiding principle of Budget
World Bank expects GDP growth rate at 7.6 pc in FY18 and 7.8 pc in FY19
Allocation under MNREGA increased to 48,000 crore from Rs 38,500 crore. This is highest ever allocation
Rs 9,000 cr higher allocation for payment of sugarcane arrears
Target of agriculture credit fixed at Rs 10 lakh cr in 2017-18
Tax administration honouring the honest is one of the 10 pillars of Budget 2017-18
National Testing agency to conduct all examinations in higher education, freeing CBSE and other agencies
133-km road per day constructred under Pradhan Mantri Gram SadakYojana as against 73-km in 2011-14
Govt to set up dairy processing fund of Rs 8,000 crore over three years with initial corpus of Rs 2,000 crore
1 cr households to be brought out of poverty under Antodya Scheme
Participation of women in MNREGA increased to 55 pc from 45 pc in past
Modern law on contract farming will be drafted and circulated to states
Dedicated micro-irrigation fund to be created with a corpus of Rs 5000 crore
Market reforms will be undertaken, states will be asked to denotify perishables from Essential Commodities Act
Space technology to be used for monitoring MNREGA implementation

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