2. TAX FOR THE RICH:
India recently joined the ranks of many Western countries
with talk of raising taxes for wealthy individuals.
A surcharge is a tax on tax. For instance, if your tax
liability for a year is 10,000 rupees ($185), the surcharge
would be a tax on 10,000 rupees.
3. Tax consultants expect a surcharge of around
10%, which in this case would translate to 1,000
rupees.
Thus, the individual’s total tax liability would be
11,000 rupees ($203).
The Budget left tax slabs and tax rates unchanged but
proposes a Rs 2,000 tax credit to those whose taxable
income is up to Rs 5 lakh.
The credit, given to those in the lowest tax
bracket, increases their tax exemption limit from Rs 2
lakh to Rs 2.2 lakh.
4. The Budget has also not changed the tax rates for senior
citizens (60-80 years) and very senior citizens (80 years and
above).
So, all men, women and senior citizens with taxable income
of less than Rs 5 lakh will save Rs 2,000 in 2013-14.
The rates for those in higher income brackets have not been
changed, except for those with taxable income of more than
Rs 1 crore.
CONTINUES
5. Railway Minister concludes his budget speech
• 67 new express trains to be introduced; 27 passenger
trains, 8 DEMUs
• 10% reservation for women in RPF
• Internet booking to be provided from 0030 hours to 2330
hours
• Special A/C coaches ‘Anubhuti’, to be introduced
• SMS alert service being rolled out shortly to intimate
passengers about reservation status
• Free Wi-Fi facility to be provided in select trains
• Plan to allow e-ticketing via mobile phone
Railway budget plans
6. Diesel price hike added Rs 3,300 crore to fuel bill of
Railways
Railway revenues to show a balance of Rs 12,506 crore in
2013-14
Electrification of 1,200 km to be completed this year
72 additional suburban services in Mumbai and 18 in
Kolkata
An independent Rail Tariff Authority has been formalised
Operating ratio expected to improve to 87.8 per cent in
2013-14 from 88.8 per cent in the current fiscal
7. Health and Education
Health for all and education for all remain our
priorities.
Allocated `37,330 crore to the Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare. Of this, the new National Health Mission
that combines the rural mission and the proposed urban
mission will get `21,239 crore, an increase of 24.3 percent.
Rs.`4,727 crore for medical education, training and
research.
8. Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy are being
mainstreamed through the National Health Mission. They
allocate `1,069 crore to the Department of AYUSH.
The six AIIMS-like institutions have admitted their first
batch of students in the academic session that commenced in
September 2012. The hospitals attached to the colleges will
be functional in 2013-14. They plan to provide a sum of
`1,650 crore for these institutions.
9. Drinking Water
Clean drinking water and sanitation have a number
of beneficial externalities. The budget allocate `15,260
crore to the Ministry of Drinking Water and
Sanitation, as against the RE of `13,000 crore in the
current year.
There are still 2,000 arsenic- and 12,000 fluoride-
affected rural habitations in the country. So they plan
to provide `1,400 crore towards setting up water
purification plants.
10. Rural Development
The Ministry of Rural Development steers a number of
flagship programmes. We estimate that they will be able to
spend `55,000 crore before the end of the current year, and
they plan to allocate `80,194 crore in 2013-14, marking an
increase of 46 percent. MGNREGS will get `33,000
crore, PMGSY will get `21,700 crore, and IAY will get `15,184
crore.
11. Agricultural Credit
Agricultural credit is the driver of agricultural production.
We will exceed the target of `575,000 crore fixed for 2012-13.
For 2013-14, They increase the target to `700,000 crore.
The interest subvention scheme for short-term crop loans will
be continued and a farmer who repays the loan on time will be
able to get credit at 4 percent per annum. So far, the scheme has
been applied to loans extended by public sector banks, RRBs and
cooperative banks.
12. Road Construction
Government has decided to constitute a regulatory
authority for the road sector. Bottlenecks stalling road
projects have been addressed and 3,000 kms of road projects
in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and
Uttar Pradesh will be awarded in the first six months of
2013-14.
13. Savings
Increasing savings and their optimal allocation for productive
uses lead to higher economic growth.
• Firstly, the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme will be
liberalised to enable the first time investor to invest in mutual
funds as well as listed shares and she can do so, not in one year
alone, but in three successive years. The income limit will be
raised from `10,00,000 to `12,00,000;
14. • Secondly, a person taking a loan for his first home from a bank
or a housing finance corporation upto `25,00,000 during the
period 1.4.2013 to 31.3.2014 will be entitled to an additional
deduction of interest of upto `100,000. This will promote home
ownership and give a fillip to a number of industries like
steel, cement, brick, wood, glass etc. besides jobs to thousands
of construction workers.
15. • Thirdly, in consultation with RBI, I propose to
introduce instruments that will protect savings
from inflation, especially the savings of the poor
and middle classes. These could be Inflation
Indexed Bonds or Inflation Indexed National
Security Certificates. The structure and tenor of
the instruments will be announced in due course.
16. Ports
Two new major ports will be established in Sagar, West
Bengal and in Andhra Pradesh to add 100 million tonnes of
capacity.
In addition, a new outer harbour will be developed in the
VOC port at Thoothukkudi, Tamil Nadu through PPP at an
estimated cost of `7,500 crore.
When completed, this will add 42 million tonnes of
capacity.
17. Sports
Sports of all kind deserve our support. We have
many sportsmen and sportswomen but few coaches.
Hence, they propose to set up the National Institute of
Sports Coaching at Patiala at a cost of `250 crore over a
period of three years.