Union Budget 2017-2018

The Union Finance Minister Arun pitley on February 1, 2017 presented the Union Budget 2017-18 in the Parliament. 

First time Union Budget presented on first day of February.

 The Union Budget 2017-18 is also unique in the sense that it is the first budget after introduction of 3 key changes to the budget process viz.,

 merging of the Railway Budget with the General Budget, Doing away with the classification of plan and non-plan expenditure and most importantly advancing the budget presentation date by one month. 

Highlights of the Budget Fiscal Roadmap

 • Budget proposal divided into 10 distinct themes— Farmers; rural population; energising youth; poor and underprivileged; infrastructure; financial sector; digital economy; public service; prudent fiscal management; and tax administration.

 * Total expenditure —₹2147000 crore and abolition of plan, non-plan expenditure, focus on capital expenditure.

 • Fiscal deficit for the financial year 2017-18 pegged at 3.2% of GDP and Revenue deficit for 2017-18 at 1.9%. 

* Defence expenditure, excluding pension---₹274114 crore 

• Expenditure in science and technology—₹37435 crore

Banking and Taxation 

• No cash transactions above ₹3 lakh and Political funding— Maximum amount of cash donation that can be received is ₹2000.

• MAT not to be abolished at present; to allow carry-forward for 15 years.

• Income Tax rate cut to 5% for individuals having income between ₹2.5 lakh to ₹5 lakh.

• Two new schemes to introduced to promote BHIM App—referal bonus for users and cash back for traders. 

• Payment regulatory board to be set-up in the RBI to regulate electronic payments, replacing Board for Regulation and Supervision in Payments and Settlements System. 

•Actual revenue loss on tax proposals ₹22700 crore; gain from additional resource mobilisation is ₹2700 crore. 

Agriculture

 • Farmer credit fixed at record level of  ₹10 trillion; will ensure adequate flow to underserved areas. 

• Soil Health Cards Government to set-up mini-labs in Krishi Vigyan Kendras. 

• Long-term irrigation fund in NABARD— corpus at ₹40000 crore. Dedicated micro- irrigation fund with ₹5000 crore corpus. 

• MGNREGA : ₹48000 crore has been allocated; participation of women now at 55%; using space technology in a big way. 

• Coverage of Fasal Bima Yojana to go up from 30% of cropped area to 40% in 2017-18 and 50% next year.

 Health and Women 

• Two new AIIMS to be set-up each in Jharkhand and Gujarat. Elimination of Tuberculosis (TB) by 2025 targeted.

• ₹500 crore allocated to set-up Mahila Shakti Kendras; Allocation raised from ₹1.56 lakh crore to ₹1.84 lakh crore for women & child welfare.

Railways

• Capital and development
expenditure pegged at ₹1.31 lakh crore for railways in financial year 2017-18 from the budget.
• No Service charge while booking tickets with IRCTC.
• ₹1 lakh crore (₹1 trillion) corpus for
railway safety fund over five years.
• Five hundred stations will be differently abled by providing lifts and escalators.
• Passenger safety—Safety fund corpus set-up; unmanned level crossings to be eliminated by the year 2020.
• Railway lines of 3500 km to be commissioned.
• To introduce Coach Mitra facility; by 2019, biotoilets for all coaches.

Miscellaneous

• Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana : ₹19000 crore allocated; along with States, ₹ 27000 crore will be spent in financial year 2017-18.
• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana has allocated ₹-23000 crore.
• National testing agency to be established for all entrance exams, freeing up CBSE, AICTE and
other bodies.
• Propose to leverage information technology with launch of SWAYAM platform for virtual learning.
• Model Shops and Establishment Bill to open up additional opportunities for employment of women.
• For senior citizens, aadhaar-based health cards will be issued.
• Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras will be extended to 600 districts; 100 International skill centres to be opened to help people get jobs abroad.
• Digi Gaon will be launched to promote tele-medicine and education.
• Trade Infrastructure Export Scheme to be launched in 2017-18; total allocation for infrastructure at record  ₹ 3.96 lakh crore.

•Aadhaar Pay to be launched 20 lakh Aadhaar-based PoS by September, 2017.