From: Rajesh Nautiyal <
rajesh.nautiyal@hcl.in>
Date: Feb 29, 2008 2:42 PM
Subject: [PGG-Regd Trust] Budget 2008
To:
PauriGarhwal@yahoogroups.com *BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS (based on FM's Budget Speech)*
*DIRECT TAXES*
- New tax slabs will be: 10 per cent for Rs 1,50,000 to Rs 3,00,000,
20 per cent for Rs 3,00,000 to Rs 5,00,000 and 30 per cent above Rs 5,00,000
– Major relief.
- For women, the income tax limit goes up from Rs 1.45 lakh to Rs 1.80lakh.
- In case of senior women citizens, it increases from Rs 1.95 lakh to
Rs 2.25 lakh.
- Short term capital gains tax increased to 15%
- Commodities Transaction Tax to be introduced on the lines of
Securities Transaction Tax.
- Banking cash transaction tax withdrawn from April 1, 2009.
- Five year tax holiday for setting up hospitals in tier II and tier
III regions for providing healthcare in rural areas from April 1, 2008.
- Five year tax holiday for promoting cultural tourism.
- Fresh facilities, encouragement to sports and guest houses exempted
from Fringe Benefit Tax.
- Securities Transaction Tax has been made a deductible expenditure.
- Threshold for small service providers raised from Rs. eight lakh to
Rs 10 lakh.
- Asset management service under mutual funds, services by stock
exchanges to be brought under Services Tax net.
*INDIRECT TAXES*
- General Cenvat on all goods to be reduced from 16 per cent to 14 per
cent. Excise duty reduced from 16 per cent to eight per cent on all
pharmaceutical goods manufacture.
- Excise duty on small cars reduced to 12 per cent from 16 per cent
and hybrid cars to 14 per cent.
- Duty on crude and unrefined sulphur reduced from five to 2 per cent
to help raise domestic fertiliser production.
- CIGARETTES TO BE TAXED MORE. Duty on non filter cigarettes to be
raised.
- No change in peak rate of customs duty for non agriculture imports.
- Tax to GDP ratio increased from 9.2 per cent in 2004-05 to 12.5 per
cent 2007-08.
- Excise duty on two-wheelers cut from 16% to 12%
- Excise duty on small cars cut.. might become cheaper
- No excuse duty on wireless data cards, composting machines. Excise
duty reduced from 16 to 8 per cent on water purification items.
- Duty withdrawn on naptha for production of polymers.
- Special Countervailing Duty on power imports.
- Customs duty on specified sports goods machinery down from 7.5 per
cent to five per cent.
- Customs duty on specified life saving drugs reduced from ten per
cent to five per cent.
- EXCISE DUTIES: GENERAL CENVAT RATE CUT ON ALL GOODS FROM 16% TO 14%.
This is being done to boost the manufacturing segment
- TAX: helicopter similators, customs duty cut
- TAX: Customs duty exemption on Naphtha withdrawn, execpt for that
used for making fertilizers
- TAX: SOME SPORTS GOODS raw materials exempt from duty
- TAX: Convergence products, duty cut from 10% to 5%
- TAX: no duty on set-top boxes
- HOWEVER, CUSTOMS DUTIES TO BE REDUCED ON SOME POWER PROJECTS, STEEL
MELTING SCRAP, ON SOME LIFE-SAVING DRUGS.
- CUSTOMS DUTY: NO CHANGE IN PEAK RATE OF CUSTOMS DUTY
*OTHERS*
- Fiscal deficit pegged at 3.1 per cent and revenue deficit at 1.4 per
cent.
- TAXATION: promises tax payer friendly regime.
- Rs 624 crore allocated for Commonwealth Games.
- DEFENCE: Allocation for defence to be increased by 10 per cent from
Rs 96,000 crore to Rs 1,05,600 crore.
- PROTECTING THE TIGER: One time grant of Rs 50 crore for the National
Tiger Fund Authority, to deploy a special tiger protection force.
- 6th Pay Commission to table report by March 31 2008.
- Three schemes to be introduced for providing social security to
unorganised sector workers.
- DEFENCE: Allocation to be increased by 10%
- Rs 750 crore for upgradation of 300 ITIs in 25 districts.
- Rs 32,676 crore as subsidy to Public Distribution System.
- PDS -- Public Distribution System -- through smart cards in Haryana
and Chandigarh to start on pilot basis.
- Chidambaram said that according to estimates, 3 crore marginal and
small farmers would benefit from the overnment's amnesty. Under the one-time
settlement scheme that will benefit another one crore farmers, the
government will give a rebate of 25 per cent on payment of outstanding
loans. The agricultural credit of scheduled banks is estimated at Rs
2,40,000 crore in the current fiscal and it would go up to Rs 2,80,000 crore
in 2008-09.
- PAN requirement to be extended to all transactions in capital market
subject to a threshold.
- So where will the money come from? Is he going to tax us more? Wait
with bated breath as he is about to roll out his tax proposals in a moment.
- Finance Minister P Chidambaram today announced a Rs 60,000-crore
relief package for farmers, including complete waiver of loans given to
small and marginal farmers.
- Presenting his fifth Budget and the last one before the general
elections, Chidambaram announced waiver of Rs 50,000 crore worth of loans to
small and marginal farmers and a settlement scheme for other farmers that
would cost the exchequer another Rs 10,000 crore.
- Risk Capital Fund to be set up in SIDBI, the Small Industrial
Development Bank of India.
- PAN NEEDED FOR ALL MARKET TRANSACTIONS.
- SMEs TO BENEFIT: Micro, small and medium enterprises to continue to
get special attention, says the finance minister.
- GOOD NEWS FOR TEXTILES: Allocation for Textile Upgradation Fund to
be more than doubled.
- 75 lakh people to be covered by health insurance schemes, says FM.
- OIL EXPLORATION: Foreign investment of $3.5 billion to $8 billion
expected for exploration and development of new oil blocks.
- MORE ON FARMERS' LOAN WAIVER: The loan waiver scheme will benefit 3
crore (30 MILLION) small and medium farmers and cover loans totalling Rs
50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion). One crore (10 million) other farmers will
benefit to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) in the waiver.
- Rs 800 crore for accelerated power reforms programme.
- National Fund for Transmission and Distribution Reforms to be
launched.
- More reforms needed in coal and electricity sectors to ensure double
digit growth in manufacturing sector.
- The corpus of rural infrastructure development fund to be raised to
Rs 14,000 crore, the FM says.
- Loan waiver scheme to involve loans liability of Rs 60,000 crore and
to benefit four crore farmers.
- By loan waiver scheme, the country is discharging a deep debt and
sense of gratitude to farmers, says Chidambaram.
- The government proposed to waive agricultural loans given by
scheduled commercial banks, regional rural banks and cooperative credit
institutions to farmers up to March 31, 2007 and due for December 31.
- Stock market benchmark Sensex today dropped by over 200 points, in
the middle of Finance Minister P Chidambaram announcing loan waivers worth
Rs 60,000 crore for farmers in his budget speech.
- Market falls by 222.91 points to 17601.57 amid loan waiver
announcement in budget.
- Implementation of debt waiver and debt relief for farmers will be
completed by June 30 this year, the FM announced.
- Agriculture loans restructured and rescheduled by banks from 2004-06
and other loans normally rescheduled under RBI guidelines will also be
eligible under the waiver scheme.
- There will, says FM, a one-time settlement of loans for other
farmers.
- Meanwhile, statistics show that inflation has risen to 4.89 per cent
for the week ended February 16, against 4.35 per cent in the previous
week.
