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