By Ruma Dubey

For most part of the Budget, it sounded almost like a Congress Budget, except that the speech was longer, Mr.Arun Jaitley took a five minute break and there were so many micro issues in the Budget that one minister was actually caught on TV with a huge yawn!

It would be really unfair for us to expect this 6 week old Govt to announce huge Big Bang measures in this Budget. Yet, in the short span of time, the Govt did announce a lot of sops. REITs, FDI in defence and insurance, investment allowance of 15% for Rs.25 crore manufacturing units spend on plant & machinery, Rs.10,000 crore allocation for start-ups were all good things. The Budget was a long statement of all things which Modi has been mouthing – smart cities, good roads, sanitation, cleaning the Ganga.

Yet, there was a sense of irritation, almost embarrassment when Rs.200 crore was announced for the Sardar Patel statue in Gujarat, which is lesser than the allocation of Rs.150 crore for protection of women and half of that, Rs.100 crore was allocated for metros in two cities and Rs.100 crore industrial corridor in Pune. At this juncture, such things, especially building of statues and memorials is frowned upon and in that context, this struck a wrong note.

The market was surely disappointed that there was no clarity on the retrospective tax issue and as against expectations, laid out no road map for GST. There are tonnes and tonnes of schemes announced and all with a token allocation of Rs.100 crore. And throughout the Budget, one thing which ran through was PPP – almost everything is via PPP. During the first part of the Budget, when Jaitley spent too much time on silly schemes, like increasing AIIMS, upgrading status of film institute’s and so many such things made one wonder if this was the FM of the Govt which promised us growth and a governance which was so bold and different from the previous one. The Govt has announced schemes all over- transport, road, waterways, coal, ports, harbours, sanitation but as of now, there is no timeline yet. All these seem more like a preview of what could later, once the Govt settles down.

The market was initially down in the dumps, extremely disappointed because Jaitley was sounding more and more like Congress but in the latter half, once the tax announcements began, the market recouped and it showed an almost 500 points movement. The Govt struck the right cord, with the common man and India Inc. The hike in PPF limit and tax exemption was welcome and it has made the wrong things costly – pan masala, aerated waters, cigarette and all tobacco products.

The detailed speech is not yet out but how was the overall budget? Well, it was too micro and too many sector specific sops with token allocation of funds. The arbitration on Vodafone will continue. Sops for middle class are there but few; that is understandable given the fiscal constraints. It has few negatives but at the same time, few negatives too.

It ticks all the boxes, the Govt has showed that it has the intent and hopefully we will see the action in the next 6 months.

BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS

• Fiscal deficit at 5.31 lakh crore for FY15
• Divestment target at Rs.43,425 crore for FY15
• Gross Borrowing at Rs.6 lakh crore for FY15
• Net Borrowing at Rs.4.61 lakh crore for FY15
• FY15 Revenue deficit at 2.9%
• Retrospective tax to be retained, but to be exercised judiciously, with clearance form a high-level committee; no new retrospective taxes announced
• To meet FY15 fiscal deficit target of 4.1%
• Fiscal tightening to continue, to reach 3% by FY17, FY 16 fiscal deficit target @ 3,6%
• Rs.2.29 lakh crore allocation for defence sector – Rs.5000 crore more over interim Budget of Chidambaram
• Composite cap of FDI in insurance and defence to 49% and to retain Indian control
• To sell shares in PSU banks to retail investors, Govt to retain majority stake
• Uniform KYC norms for entire financial sector
• To Introduce Single Demat A/c For All Financial Transactions 
• To Liberalise ADR, GDR Regime For All Permissible Securities
• To set up 6 debt recovery tribunals
• PPF upper ceiling hiked from Rs.1 lakh to Rs.1.5 lakh

SUBSIDY FOR FY15

• Food subsidy at Rs.1.15 lakh crore
• Petroleum subsidy at Rs.63,427 crore
• Fertiliser subsidy at Rs.72,970 crore
• Total subsidy at Rs.2.51 lakh crore

TAXES IN FY15

• No changes in personal income tax rates
• Change in personal income tax slab  – tax exemption increased to Rs.3 lakh for senior citizens and Rs.2.5 lakh for salaried employees.
• No change in surcharge
• Education cess to continue at 3%
• Home loan interest rate exemption increased to Rs.2 lakh
• Benefits under 80/c increased from Rs.1 lakh to Rs.1.5 lakh
• To extend 10-year tax holiday for power
• Exemption for self occupied homes raised to Rs.2 lakh
• Investment allowance at 15% for 3 yrs to manufacturing company which invest more than Rs 25 crore in plant and machinery
• To Retain 15% Tax Rate On Intl Dividend Income
• No change in tax laws for Hindu Undivided Families
• To review Direct Tax code
• Impact of direct tax proposals at Rs.22,200 crore
• Income from portfolio investments to be treated as Capital Gains
• Retains tax rebate on dividend by foreign companies
• To change tax laws governing FIIs, whose managers based abroad.
• Tax-Pass through status for REITs to avoid double taxation
• Witholding tax on corporate bonds issued overseas extended
• FII income to be treated as capital gains

SOCIAL WELFARE SCHEMES

• Rs.50,500 crore for SC/ST schemes
• Rs.3600 crore set aside  for National Rural Drinking Water, total of Rs.6500 crore for safe drinking water
• To Amend Apprenticeship Act
• Allocate Rs 14,389 cr towards PMGSY

OTHER SCHEMES

• Rs.150 crore set aside for safety of women across India
• e-Visa to be issued across 9 airports, to facilitate visa on arrival for tourists
• Need over Rs 2.4 lakh crore to fund PSU banks capex in FY15
• Rs.7060 crore allocated for development of 100 Smart Cities
• Extension of Senior Citizen Pension Plan scheme till August 2015
• For girl child -  announces Beti padhao, beti badhao yojana, allots Rs. 100 crore
• Rs 14389 crore allocated for construction of village roads
• Savings in Kisan Vikas Patra reintroduced
• To print currency notes with Braille effects
• All govt departments and ministries to be integrated through E-platform by 31
• Rs.12,000 crore for National Housing Banking programme
• Pt Madan Mohan Malaviya Teaching Programme to be started
• To set up 5 new IIMs and 5 new IITs – budget is Rs.500 crore; 12 more Govt Medical colleges with dental facilities and 4 new AIIMS will be in AP, West Bengal, Vidarbha and Purvanchal for which Rs.500 crore allocated;  Agriculture University to be set up in AP and Rajasthan, and Horticulture University in Haryana, Telangana for which Rs.200 crore allocated.

SCHEMES FOR FARMERS/ AGRICULTURE

• To provide Rs.1000 crore for PM irrigation schemes
• Maintain allocation for NREGA
• To spend Rs 28,635 cr for Sarva Siksha Abhyaan
• Propose to continue with interest subvention for farmers
• To set aside Rs.8 lakh crore for Farm Credit in FY15
• Rs.100 crore allocation for Agriculture fund
• Propose 3% additional subsidy on farm loans
• plan to provide finance 5 lakh landless farmers through NABARD
• Rs.5000 crore for farm warehousing facility
• Rs. 5000 crore short time rural credit refinance fund for 2014-15
• Rs. 100 crore set aside for Kisan Television to provide real time information on various farming and agriculture issues

FOR INDIA INC

• To allocate Rs.500 crore for new rural power plan power, aim to provide 24x7 power across India
• Infra Invst Trusts To Be Set Up To Securitise Infra Projs
• To allocate Rs.100 crore for metro in Lucknow and Ahmedabad, to be developed through PPP mode
• Proposes National Rural Internet and Technology Mission; Rs. 500 crore set aside
• Slum development to be included in Corporate Social Responsibility activities
• Rs 50,000 Cr For Municipal Debt Management For Infra
• Rs.10,000 crore fund for start-up firms
• Plan 6 new textile clusters at a cost of Rs.200 crore in Rae Bareily, Lucknow,Surat, Bhagalpur
• To revive SEZs
• 16 new port projects in FY15
• Rs.11,635 crore for Harbour Projects in current fiscal
• Rs.37,850 crore investment in NHAI and state roads in FY15
• Propose scheme for development of airports in Tier I and II cities through PPP mode
• NHAI to target 8000 kms of road in FY15
• 500 crore for Ultra Modern Solar Power Projects
• PPP model to develop 15000 kms of Gas pipeline and restart mining operations
• FM says banks will be allowed to give long-term loans to infrastructure
• To bring out measures to relieve stressed assets of banks
• Banks to be allowed to raise longer-term funds for infra with minimum rules
• Rs.3000 crore for state police modernization
• To create 5 tourist circuits with 500 cr corpus
• Rs 990 Cr For Socio-economic Dvpt Of Villages Along Borders
• Rs.1000 crore to improve rail connectivity in North East
• Rs.200 crore and Rs.500 crore for power and water reforms respectively in Delhi
• Biotech clusters to be set up in Bangaluru and Faridabad to take science and technology to new heights

SCHEMES FOR GANGA

• Rs. 4200 cr set aside for Jal Marg Vikas project on river Ganga connecting Allahabad to Haldia,over 1620 km
• Rs 100 cr set aside for project to link rivers.
• NRI fund for conservation of river Ganga to be set up
• "Namami Ganga", an integrated Ganga Development Project to be set up, Rs.2037 crore set aside for this

ALLOCATION FOR MEMORIALS

• Rs.200 crore allotted for building the Sardar Patel statue in Gujarat
• Rs.100 crore for War Memorial and War Museum
• To set aside Rs 50 crore for construction of National Police Memorial

BUDGET FY15: WINNERS AND LOSERS