Budget 2012: The Final Verdict out, Common Man Not Happy


New Delhi: Prominent highlights of the budget for 2012-13 presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha: * Income tax exemption limit raised to 2 lakh to provide relief of relief of 2,000 for all assessees; 20 percent tax on income over 10 lakh, up from 8 lakh. * Deduction of up to 10,000 from interest from savings bank accounts. * Defence to get 1.93 lakh crore during 2012-13. * Service tax rate raised from 10 percent to 12 percent to bring in 18,660 crore. * Number of proactive steps taken on black money (stashed away abroad); information has started flowing in, prosecution to be initiated; White Paper in current session. * No change in corporate taxes but measures to enable them better access funds. * Withholding tax on external commercial borrowings reduced from 20 percent to five percent for power, airlines, roads, bridges, affordable houses and fertiliser sectors. * National Skill Development Fund allocated 1,000 crore. * Four thousand residential quarters to be constructed for paramilitary forces with an allocation of 1,185 crore. * National Population Register to be completed in two years. * Excise duty raised from 10 to 12 percent. * Cinema industry exempted from service tax. * Branded silver jewellery fully exempt from excise duty. * Customs duty on warning systems/track upgrade equipment for railways reduced from 10 percent to 7.5 percent. * Import duty on equipment for iron ore mining reduced from 7.5 to 2.5 percent. * Allocation of 200 crore for research on climate change. * Irrigation and water resource company to be operationalised. * National mission on food processing to be started in cooperation with state governments. * Integrated Child Development Scheme to be strengthened and restructured with allocation of 15,850 crore. * Allocation of 14,000 crore for rural water supply and sanitation. * Infusion of 15,888 crore in public sector banks, regional rural banks and NABARD in 2012-13. * Infrastructure will require 50 lakh crore in 12th Plan, half of this from the private sector. * Completion of highway projects 44 percent higher than in previous fiscal. * External commercial borrowing of up to $1 billion permitted for airline sector. * External commercial borrowings permitted to low-cost housing sector. * From 2012-13, full subsidies for providing food security; in other sectors to the extent the economy can bear this. * Hope to raise 30,000 crore from disinvestments. * New equity savings scheme to provide for income tax deduction of 50 percent for those who invest 50,000 in equity and whose annual income is less than 10 lakh. * Corporate market reforms to be initiated. * Bills on micro-finance institutions, national land bank and public debt management among those to be introduced in 2012-13. * Addressing malnutrition, black money and corruption in public life among five priorities in year ahead. * India's inflation structural, driven largely by agricultural constraints. * Current account deficit 3.6 percent in 2011-12; this put pressure on exchange rate. * Growth in 2012-13 estimated at 7.6 percent; expect inflation to be lower. * Better monitoring of expenditure on government schemes. * Fiscal 2011-12 year of recovery interrupted; reality turned out to be different. * GDP growth in 2011-12 estimated at 6.9 percent; had to battle double digit inflation for two years. * Good news: agriculture and services continued to perform well; economy is now turning around; recovery in core sectors. * Now at juncture where it is necessary to take hard decisions; have to accelerate pace of reforms.
Source: IANS