Union Budget 2019-2020: Highlights of Interim Budget 2019

Union Budget 2019-2020 of India was presented by the Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs, Railways & Coal, Shri Piyush Goyal. The knowledge about yearly Union Budget is very important from the examinations point of view. Many questions are based on the Annual Union Budget in exams like UPSC, SSC, BANK PO, BANK Clerical etc. Also, it is the favourite topic of the interview panel in various Job interviews. So, This article will help the students to understand the Key Union Budget Highlights relevant to the exams.

Contents

Union Budget 2019-2020: Major Schemes launched

Pradhan Mantri KIsan SAmman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) announced in the Union Budget 2019-20

The PM-KISAN scheme aims to extend direct income support at the rate of Rs. 6,000 per year to farmer families, having cultivable land upto 2 hectares.
The budget of PM Kisan scheme: Rs.75,000 crore for the FY 2019-20 and Rs.20,000
crore in the Revised Estimates of FY 2018-19.
Under the PM-KISAN, Rs.2,000 each will be transferred to the bank accounts of around 12 crore Small and Marginal farmer families, in three equal installments.
This programme would be made effective from 1st December 2018 and the first
installment for the period upto 31st March 2019 would be paid during this year itself.

Separate Department of Fisheries announced:

A separate department of fisheries announced to provide sustained and focused attention towards the development of Fisheries.
The Government seeks to promote further growth over 7% to promote the livelihood of about 1.45 crore people dependent on the sector.

Interest Subvention schemes for Farmers announced:

A 2% interest subvention announced for the farmers pursuing the activities of animal husbandry and fisheries, who avail loan through Kisan Credit Card. In case of timely repayment of loan, they will also get an additional 3% interest subvention.
National Artificial Intelligence portal to be developed soon
The ESI cover limit has been increased to ₹ 21,000. The minimum pension was also increased to ₹ 1000.

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Rs.750 crore for Rashtriya Gokul Mission

Rs.750 crore allocated for Rashtriya Gokul Mission in this year.
Setting up of “Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog” to upscale sustainable genetic upgradation of cow resources and to enhance production and productivity of cows has also been announced.
The “Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog” will also look after effective implementation of laws and welfare schemes for cow.

‘Pradhan Mantri Shram-Yogi Maandhan’ scheme announced:

The scheme will provide pension benefits to at least 10 crore labourers and workers in the unorganised sector.
It would be one of the largest pension schemes of the world within next 5 years.
A sum of Rs.500 crore has been allocated for the Scheme.
Additional funds will be provided as needed.
The scheme will start from the current year.

Tax Benefits

No tax to be paid for annual income up to Rs.5 lakhs.
People having gross income up to Rs. 6.50 lakhs are not required to pay any income tax if they make investments in provident funds, specified savings and insurance etc.
Additional deductions such as interest on home loan up to Rs. 2 lakh, interest on education loans, National Pension Scheme contributions, medical insurance and medical expenditure on senior citizens etc, have also been proposed in the Interim
Budget 2019-20.
Thus, tax benefit of Rs. 18,500 crore is proposed to be given to approximately
3 crore middle class and small taxpayers.
For salaried persons, Standard Deduction has been enhanced from the current Rs.40,000 to Rs.50,000. This will provide additional tax relief of Rs. 4,700 crore to more than 3 crore salaried people and pensioners.
Exemption on levy of income tax on notional rent on a second self-occupied house has been proposed in the budget speech.
TDS threshold on interest earned on bank/post office deposits has been raised from Rs. 10,000 to Rs.40,000.
TDS threshold for deduction of tax on rent is proposed to be enhanced from Rs. 1,80,000 to Rs.2,40,000.
The businesses comprising over 90% of GST payers will soon be allowed to file quarterly tax return.
I-T processing of returns to be done in 24 hours
Within next 2 years all verification of tax returns will be done electronically without any interface with the tax payer
Gratuity limit increased from 10 lakh to 30 lakh rupees.

Fiscal Deficit

Fiscal deficit has gone down to 3.4% in 2018-19 RE from the high of almost 6% seven years ago.
As per the Interim budget 2019-20, Current Account Deficit (CAD), against a high of 5.6% six years ago, is likely to be only 2.5% of GDP this year.

Inflation

The inflation has gone down to 4.6% over last five years, which is lower than the inflation during the tenure of any other Government.
The Inflation in December 2018 was down to 2.19% only, as per the Finance minister.

Growth and FDI

India is the fastest growing major economy in the world with an annual average GDP
growth during last five years higher than the growth achieved by any Government since economic reforms began in 1991.
From being the 11th largest economy in the world in 2013-14, India has become the 6th largest economy in the world.
India attracted a massive amount of as much as $239 billion of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during the last 5 years, when most of the FDI was allowed to come in through the automatic route. This is due to a stable and predictable regulatory regime, growing economy and strong fundamentals, as per the Finance minister.

Enhanced allocations for major Schemes and other announcements:

Rs.60,000 crores allocated for MGNREGA in the budget 2019-20. Additional allocations will be made, needed.
Rs.19,000 crore in BE 2019-20 is allocated to the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), as against Rs.15,500 crore in RE 2018-19.
A total number of 1.53 crore houses have been built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in the period 2014-18.
All households in India to get electricity connections by March 2019.
143 crore LED bulbs have been provided till now in a mission mode. It has resulted in saving of Rs.50,000 crore for the poor and middle class.
Ayushman Bharat, which is the world’s largest healthcare programme, has benefited around 10 lakh patients till date through free treatment for medical treatment which would have otherwise cost them Rs. 3,000 crore.
Through Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendras, lakhs of poor and middle class people have benefitted from reduction in the prices of essential medicines, cardiac stents and knee implants, and availability of medicines at affordable prices.
22nd AIIMS announced in the budget, to be established in Haryana. 14 of the 21 AIIMS operating or being established in the country presently have been announced since 2014.
Cost of data and voice calls in India is now possibly the lowest in the world and mobile and mobile part manufacturing companies have increased from 2 to 268.
Vande Bharat Express, an indigenously developed semi high speed train, to be launched.
25 per cent of sourcing for government projects will be from MSME, of which three per cent will be from women entrepreneurs.
One lakh digital villages planned in the next five years
Fund allocation to Northeast region increased to ₹ 58,166 crore in this year, a 21% rise over last year for infrastructure development
Budget allocation for Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) has been increased from Rs.23,357 crore in RE 2018-19 to Rs.27,584 crore in BE 2019-20.
A substantial increase in the allocation for welfare of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes:
Rs.76,801 crore allocated for the welfare of SCs in Budget 2019-20. The allocation of Rs.56,619 crore made in Budget of 2018-19 for Scheduled Caste, was further increased to Rs.62,474 crore in Revised Estimates. Now it is proposed to be enhanced to Rs.76,801 crore in BE for 2019-20, an increase of 35.6% over BE of 2018-19.
Rs.50,086 crore allocated for the welfare of STs in Budget 2019-20, an increase of 28%. It was Rs.39,135 crore in Budget 2018-19.
A Welfare Development Board to frame special strategies for the benefit of the hard-to-reach De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic communities will be set up under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
A Committee under NITI Aayog will also be set up to complete the task of identifying De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic communities not yet formally classified.
Under the Ujjwala Yojana, which aims to deliver 8 crore free LPG connections, more than 6 crore connections have already been given and the remaining will get free gas connections by next year.
A National Artificial Intelligence Portal will also be developed soon as a part of the National Programme on ‘Artificial Intelligence’.
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion will now be renamed as the Department for Promotion of Industries and Internal Trade.
The Government e-Marketplace (GeM), created two years ago, has resulted in average savings of 25-28% and the platform will now be extended to all CPSEs. Transactions of about Rs. 17,500 crore have taken place so far.
For the first time, the country’s Defence Budget will be of over Rs.3 lakh crore.
The domestic air traffic passengers have doubled during the last five years, leading to large number of jobs also being created. The number of operational airports has crossed 100 with the commissioning of the Pakyong airport in Sikkim. Arunachal Pradesh came on the air map recently and Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram have come on India’s rail map for the first time.
Capital support from the budget 2019-20 for Indian Railways is proposed at Rs.64,587 crore in 2019-20 (BE). The Railways’ overall capital expenditure programme is of Rs. 1,58,658 crore.
The Operating Ratio of the Indian Railways is expected to improve from 98.4% in 2017-18 to 96.2% in 2018-19 (RE) and further to 95% in 2019-20 (BE). The Operating Ratio of the railways indicates how much railway spends to earn a rupee.
India’s installed solar generation capacity has grown over ten times in last five years.
To promote entertainment industry, the Single window clearance for ease of shooting films, now available only to foreigners, will also be made available to Indian filmmakers.
Anti-camcording provisions to be introduced in the Cinematograph Act to control the menace of piracy.
There has been a Growth of 18% in Direct Tax Collections in 2017-18 and increase in tax base by as many as 1.06 crore people filing income tax returns for the first time in FY 2017-18, mainly because of demonetization.

Union Budget 2019-2020:Conclusion

The total expenditure is to increase from Rs.24,57,235 crore in 2018-19 RE to Rs.27,84,200 crore in 2019-20 BE.
A rise of Rs.3,26,965 crore or approximately 13.30%. This reflects a high increase considering low inflation.
The fiscal deficit of year 2019-20 is estimated to be 3.4% of GDP.

The Government of India would now focus on Debt consolidation. The target of 3% of fiscal deficit has to be achieved by 2020-21. India’s Debt to GDP ratio was 46.5% in year 2017-18. The FRBM Act prescribes that the Debt to GDP ratio of the Government of India should be brought down to 40% by 2024-25. The government aims to focus on Debt consolidation along with the fiscal deficit consolidation programme.

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Union Budget 2019-2020: Highlights of Interim Budget 2019