The biggest winners and losers of Union Budget 2018
The Narendra Modi government's last full Budget presented in Parliament on February 1 appeared to hit the spot on agriculture; however, it lacked enough meat to potentially spur private investment, a fact reflected in the tanking of the stock market right after Union finance minister Arun Jaitley finished his Budget speech.
Live Coverage from the Lok Sabha - Union Budget 2018-19 https://t.co/ty740gs010
— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) February 1, 2018
The Budget was being seen as a test for the Modi-led government to maintain fiscal discipline without stifling economic growth in a year when eight Assemblies are going to the polls and when the general election is just a year away.
Here's a list of who gained and who lost out on Jaitley's priority list.
GAINERS
Agriculture gets attention
Jaitley announced new projects as well as enhanced support to the tune of Rs 14.34 trillion for existing schemes in the Union Budget 2018.
Referring to India's 86 per cent farmers, who he described as small and marginal, Jaitley said efforts will be made to link them to markets so that they get adequate remuneration for their produce.
He announced setting the minimum support price at 1.5 times the cost of production of the kharif (summer) crops.
Jaitley also announced an increase in agricultural credit to Rs 11 trillion.
President, vice-president and governors get appraisals
The monthly salary of the president, vice-president and governors will be revised to Rs 5 lakh, Rs 4 lakh and Rs 3.5 lakh respectively.
Healthcare for 10 crore poor families
Jaitley announced a National Healthcare protection scheme for approximately 50 crore beneficiaries. Under the scheme, a Rs 5 lakh-cover will be provided to 10 crore poor and vulnerable families in the country.
He also announced Rs 1,200 crore for the 1.5 lakh wellness centres in the country.
Corporate tax reduced
Budget 2018 has reduced the corporate tax rate for companies with an annual turnover of up to Rs 250 crore to 25 per cent.
Jaitley said the corporate tax cut will help the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, which accounts for 99 per cent of the companies filing tax returns. The government will forego a revenue of Rs 7,000 crore by implementing the move.
Education
The government has allocated Rs 1 lakh crore for the revitalisation and upgradation of the education sector. Promoting learning-based outcomes and research.
The government will identify 1,000 BTech students each year and offer them the PM research fellowship to do PhDs at IITs and the IISc.
The finance minister announced the setting up of two full-fledged schools of architecture and planning, and 24 new government medical colleges and hospitals.
Delhi's air quality
The issue of the national capital's air quality turning poisonous also figured in Jaitley's speech. He announced a special scheme to help the governments of Haryana, Punjab and Delhi tackle the problem, and subsidise machinery for crop residue management.
Petrol and diesel
The central government has announced an excise duty cut on unbranded petrol-diesel by Rs 2. The additional customs duty of Rs 6 (on imported petrol and high-speed diesel) has been abolished.
The announcement seems to be intended towards easing the price rise in fuel in recent times.
Senior citizens get small relief
The Budget also announced tax sops for senior citizens, including exempting interest on fixed deposits up to Rs 50,000.
LOSERS
MPs lose privilege to fix salaries
The emoluments to members of Parliament will be automatically revised every five years indexed to inflation, so that legislators themselves do not fix their own salaries.
Recently, BJP MP Varun Gandhi had suggested that rich parliamentarians forgo their salaries for the remaining term of the current Lok Sabha.
Income tax payers
Much against expectations, Jaitley left the tax slabs unchanged. Jaitley said he didn't want to change personal income tax rates applicable to individuals, as the government had already made "many positive changes" in the last three years.
However, in what comes as a relief to salaried and middle-class individuals, the government has reintroduced standard deduction of Rs 40,000 on taxable income, but with a rider. The deduction allowed by the government will be in lieu of transport and medical reimbursements for salaried taxpayers.
Phone buyers may have to shell out more
The government has decided to hike custom duty on mobile phones to boost domestic manufacturing. Jaitley announced that an updated 20 per cent custom duty will be levied on mobile phones. This is five per cent more than the current 15 per cent duty. Experts say the move is clearly aimed at promoting "Make in India".
But because a large portion of mobile phones are still made outside of India, it is highly likely their prices will go up in the days to come.
Imported goods to make way for 'Make in India'
Customs duty on certain products such as televisions has also been increased, to provide a fillip to "Make in India". A social welfare surcharge of 10 per cent has been imposed on imported goods. Import duty on LCD/LED/OLED panels and parts of TVs have been hiked to 15 per cent; duty on smart watches, wearables and footwear has been doubled to 20 per cent.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs has been renamed as Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs.
Cigarette/sunglasses
Customs duty on sunglasses, cigarette lighters, toys, bus and truck tyres, select furniture has been hiked.
Cashews
Jaitley announced that customs duty on raw cashew will be reduced from 5 per cent to 2.5 per cent, which will lead to its price getting lower.
Bitcoin buyers
Jaitley said that the government will do everything to discontinue the use of bitcoins and other virtual currencies in the country. He said India does not recognise them as legal tender and will instead encourage blockchain technology in payment systems.