Breaking the tradition of the leather bag Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman presented the Budget 2019-2020 in a red cloth cover, calling it independence from the western mindset.
Petrol and diesel prices increased by Rs. 2.50 and 2.30 respectively. Special Additional Excise Duty and Road and Transportation Cess have been imposed on these fuels.
Custom Duty on Gold and other precious metals increased by 2.5% summing up to 12.5%.
Tax slab:
- Yearly income 0 to Rs. 5,00,000. – Nil
- Yearly income Rs. 5,00,000 to Rs. 10L – 20%
- Yearly income above Rs. 10L. – 30%
Highlights of the budget:
- Target to achieve 100 percent electrification and gas connection till 2022, while the country would celebrate the 75th year of independence. This comes under the Ujjwala yojana and the Saubhagya Scheme through which already 7 crore gas connections have been provided.
- Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana has a target of providing housing to a total of 82 lakhs in urban areas and around 2 crore housing in rural areas. Investment required in this direction is 4.83 lakh crore.
- Stand up India which provides financial assistance to startups specially for the backward communities i.e. SC/ST will run until 2025. Thousands of women and entrepreneurs have benefited through the scheme
- Things to get costlier:
- Digital Video recorder
- Imported Cars
- Split ACs
- Imported Books
- Imported plastic
- CCTV cameras
- Soap
- Imported Automobile parts
- Vinyl Flooring
- Loudspeaker systems
- Stainless Steel Products
- Things to get cheaper:
- Set Top Box
- Mobile chargers
- Camera Module
- Electric Vehicle Components
- Sanitary napkins
- Electric Cars
- Furniture of bamboo
- Dry coconut
Corporate Tax reduced to 25% for companies having an annual turnover of less than ₹400 crore. Earlier companies having turnover between ₹250 to ₹400 crore were taxed 35%.
Source : www.livemint.com , www.livehindustan.com
