Union Budget 2013-14 – Key Highlights

Following are some of the key highlights of the Union Budget 2013-14 presented by Finance Minister P Chidambaram in Parliament on Thursday (February 28):

 - No change in income tax slabs

 - Relief of Rs 2,000 for tax payers in tax bracket of Rs 2-5 lakh

 - 10 % surcharge on persons with taxable income of over Rs 1 crore

- Tobacco products, SUVs and mobile phones over Rs. 2,000 to cost more

- Income limit under Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme raised to 12 lakh from Rs 10 lakh

 -First home loan of up to Rs 25 lakh to get extra interest deduction of up to Rs 1 lakh

 - Duty free limit of gold import increased to Rs 50,000 for male passengers and Rs 1     lakh for female passengers

 - India's first women's bank to be set up by October

-  Concessional six per cent interest on loans to weavers

- Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana benefit extended to rickshaw pullers, auto and taxi drivers, among others

 - 'Nirbhaya Fund' of Rs 1,000 crore to empower women and provide safety in the wake of Delhi gang-rape incident

 - Fiscal deficit for 2013-14 pegged at 4.8 pc of GDP and 5.2 per cent in 2012-13

- Plan expenditure pegged at Rs 5,55,322 crore and non-Plan at Rs 11,09,975 crore

-New taxes to collect Rs 18,000 crore for government

- Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme launched for recovering service tax dues

 -Rs 14,000 crore earmarked for capital infusion in public sector banks in 2013-14

 -Refinance capacity of SIDBI raised to Rs 10,000 crore

 -TUF Scheme for textile sector to continue in 12th Plan with an investment of Rs 1.51 lakh crore

- Rs 9,000 crore earmarked as first instalment of balance of CST compensation to states

- Defence allocation at Rs 203,672 crore, education Rs 65,867 crore and Rural Development Ministry

   Rs 80,194 cr

- Rs 10,000 crore earmarked for National Food Security towards incremental cost

- Farm credit target set at Rs 7 lakh crore as against Rs 5.75 lakh crore in 2012-13

- Direct Benefit Transfer scheme to be rolled out in the entire country during tenure of UPA    government

 -Commodity transaction tax of 0.01 per cent proposed on non-agriculture futures traded on commodity bourses

- Securities Transaction Tax brought down to 0.01 per cent

 -No change in basic customs duty; normal excise and service tax rates unchanged at 12 per cent

- Handmade carpets and textile floor coverings of coir or jute exempted from excise duty

- Excise duty on SUVs increased to 30 per cent from 27 per cent

- Chidambaram says India to become USD 5 trillion economy, and among top five in the world by 2025

-High current account deficit (CAD) a worry

- Food inflation a worry, govt to take all possible steps to augment supply side bottlenecks

- Govt proposes India's first Women's Bank as a public sector bank with Rs 1,000 crore initial capital;

  banking licence likely by October and bank expected to be operated by Nov’13.

- Foreign Trade Policy next month

- Two new major ports to come in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh to add 100 million tonnes of

   capacity

- Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDM) to get Rs 13,215 crore

 -Post offices to come on core banking solution and offer real time banking services; Rs 532 cr

   allocated for 2013-14

- Modified GAAR to be incorporated in Income-tax Act; the provisions to come into effect from April 2016

- Govt proposes to expand scope of annual information returns, extend e- payment facility through more banks, extend the refund banker system to refunds of more than Rs 50,000

- E-filing mandatory for more categories of assessees

- Direct Taxes Code (DTC) in the ongoing Budget session