Union Finance budget 2009-10 highlights

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee presented union finance budget for fiscal year 2009-10 and looks like BSE is not happy with the budget as it nosedived by over 850 pts, This year's budget is rather short of reforms, major highlights of the budget are as follows :

* Govt plans to bring back economy to high growth of 9%

* GDP growth dipped to 6.7% in FY'09

* FM to make pre-budget talks with state FMs annual affair

* Fiscal deficit up from 2.7% to 6.8% of GDP

* Return to fiscal prudence at the earliest

* 'Aam admi' is focus of all programmes and schemes.

* IT exemption limit raised; Rs 15,000 for Sr.citizens .

* Limit raised by Rs 10,000 for tax payers, including women

* 10% surcharge on personal income tax scrapped

* Fringe Benefit Tax abolished

* No change in corporate tax

* Defence gets Rs 1,41,703 cr, up 34%

* Total fiscal stimulus in 2008-09 amounts to Rs 1,86,000 cr

* IIFCL to evolve mechanism for increased funding of infra

* IIFCL to re-finance commercial bank loans up to 60 per cent in critical projects through PPP to tune of Rs 1,00,000 cr

* Allocations for highways being stepped up by 23 per cent

* Funds for housing, amenities for urban poor up Rs 3,973 cr

* Funds for JN Urban Renewal Mission up 87% to Rs 12,887 cr

* Assistance for storm-water drainage project up by Rs 300 cr

* Farm credit target up at Rs 3,25,000 cr from Rs 2,87,000 cr

* Interest rates incentive to farmers to repay loans on time

* Additional Rs 1,000 crore for accelerated irrigation scheme

* Export Credit Guarantee scheme extended till March 2010 * 2% interest subvention (IS) scheme extended till March 2010

* IS scheme to cover 7 job-oriented sectors, including textile, handicrafts and handlooms.

* Commodity Transaction Tax abolished

* New pension system trust exempted from STT; DDT

* Minimum Alternate Tax hiked to 15% from 10%

* Tax holiday on petro sector extended to natural gas

* 100% tax deduction on political donation

* Stimulus for print media for another six months

* Fertiliser subsidy to be nutrient-based, not price

* Expert Grp to form viable pricing for imported petro goods

* Banks and insurance firms to remain in public sector

* Rs 100 cr one-time grant to expand banks in unbanked areas

* Govt committed to provide Rs 100 a day as wages under NREGA

* Allocation of Rs 39,100 cr to be made for NREGA

* NREGA coverage increased to 4.74 crore households in FY'09

* Work National Food Security scheme has begun

* Allocation for Bharat Nirman being raised by 45 per cent

* Rs 2,000 cr rural housing fund under National Housing Bank

* Mission for female literacy with focus on minorities, SC/ST

* 50% of all rural women to be brought into SHG programmes

* Full interest subsidy for students in select institutions

* Five lakh students to benefit

* Modernisation of national exployment exchanges

* Action for social security to unorganised sector workers

* New pension benefits for 12 lakh jawans and JCOs from July

* One lakh dwelling units for paramilitary forces personnel

* Unique Identification Card to citizens in 12-18 months

* Provision of Rs 120 crore for UIC project

* Rs 2,113 crore allocated for IITs and new IITs

* Rs 3472 cr for Commonwealth Games from Rs 2112 cr

* Customs, excise and service tax base rates unchanged

* For Indira Awas Yojana, allocation increased 63%

* IT returns to be made simpler

* 8 missions being launched under Plan on climate change

* Allocation for market development assistance scheme up 148%

* Allocation for Rural Health Mission raised by Rs 257 cr above interim budget

* Rs 500 cr for rehabilitation of Sri Lankan Tamils

* Rs 1,000 cr for infrastructure in cyclone-hit area in WB

* Total expenditure crosses Rs 10 lakh cr for first time

* Share of direct taxes in revenue increased to 56% in FY'09

Budget session 2009-10 starts

Budget session for fiscal year 2009-2010 started today and Mamta Banerjee (trinamool congress) will present the railway budget after 9 years, and looks like she is all set to present a people friendly budget,

The buzz is that one can expect passenger amenities to figure high on her rail budget platter with mention of affordable, economic 'janta' food being available at key stations across the Indian Railways system.

Ms Banerjee is likely to favour more public private partnerships (PPPs) to boost growth in railway infrastructure. Pending projects will receive special attention. The rail coach factory at Rae Bareli will receive the minister’s attention. More significantly, the ambitious Dedicated Freight Corridor Project will be taken up on a serious note.

There is also a lot of expectation in Kolkata that the city's iconic Howrah station may get a fresh boost as part of Railways' bid to convert it into a world class station. New Delhi and Patna stations too are also on the initial list of 22 stations that will be converted into world class stations by the Railways, a move that was initiated by Lalu Prasad. There is speculation that Sealdah too will be included this year.

Next week finance minister pranab mukherjee would present Union finance budget for fiscal year 2009-10

Plan outlay may swell by Rs 1,00,000 cr in Budget

Plan expenditure may see a quantum jump of about Rs one lakh crore due to likely increased allocation for the UPA's flagship programmes such as NREGA, Bharat Nirman as well as concessional foodgrains to the poor.

This is likely to take total Plan expenditure to Rs 3.85 lakh crore against Rs 2.85 lakh crore in the interim Budget, tabled in February, sources told media.



Higher Plan expenditure may cause increase in the fiscal deficit for 2009-10 to over six per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) from 5.5 per cent projected in the interim budget.

President Pratibha Patil in her address to the joint sitting of Parliament had expressed the government's commitment to flagship schemes including the NREGA and Bharat Nirman, besides food security, among other programmes.

"Ministries have sought more allocation to implement flagship schemes, including social sector programmes and new schemes. This may result in the Plan expenditure pegged at 2.85 lakh crore during the interim budget to swell by about Rs one lakh crore," a source said.

Ministries seeking higher allocation in view of the government's commitment for flagship schemes and strengthening infrastructure include rural development, railways, power, urban development, water resources and human resource development among others, the sources said.

Sector-wise plan allocation for education may go up over Rs 15,000 crore, rural development Rs 4,000 crore, urban development about Rs 4,000 crore, power Rs 8,000 crore and health Rs 4,000 crore.

FM meets senior officials to discuss Budget 2009-10

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is understood to have held an informal meeting with the senior officials in the ministry and discussed issues relating to preparation of the Union Budget.

Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla and Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Virmani met Mukherjee at his residence today. Mukherjee is likely to take over the charge tomorrow.

According to official sources, Mukherjee has convened a meeting of senior finance ministry officials tomorrow immediately after assuming office.

Yesterday, after the first meeting of the new Cabinet, Mukherjee had expressed hope that the government would be able to present the Union Budget for the year 2009-10 in due time to avoid uncertainties.

Commenting on the economic scenario, he had said, "Indian economy is resilient, strong and we shall have to build up and come back to the growth track as early as possible. We will be able to, I hope, present the budget in due time so that uncertainties can be avoided and time of spending can be renewed."

Mukherjee, who was given additional charge as Finance Minister earlier this year in the previous UPA government, had presented an interim budget in February and had sought approval from the Parliament for withdrawal of money from the consolidated fund only till July 31.