Finance Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee
on March 16, 2012 presented the Union Budget 2012-13 in the Parliament.
● Income tax exemption limit raised to Rs.2 lakh to provide relief of Rs.2,000 for all assesses; 20 per cent tax on income over Rs.10 lakh, up from Rs.8 lakh.
● Deduction of up to Rs.10,000 from interest from savings bank accounts.
● Defence to get Rs.1.93 lakh crore during 2012-13.
● Service tax rate raised from 10 per cent to 12 per cent to bring in Rs.18,660 crore.
● Number of proactive steps taken on black money (stashed away abroad); information has started flowing in, prosecution to be initiated; White Paper in current session.
● No change in corporate taxes but measures to enable them better access funds.
● Withholding tax on external commercial borrowings reduced from 20 per cent to five per cent for power, airlines, roads, bridges, affordable houses and fertilizer sectors.
● National Skill Development Fund allocated Rs.1,000 crore.
● Four thousand residential quarters to be constructed for paramilitary forces with an allocation of Rs.1,185 crore.
● National Population Register to be completed in two years.
● Excise duty raised from 10 to 12 per cent.
● Cinema industry exempted from service tax.
● Branded silver jewellery fully exempt from excise duty.
● Customs duty on warning systems/track upgrade equipment for railways reduced from 10 per cent to 7.5 per cent.
● Import duty on equipment for iron ore mining reduced from 7.5 to 2.5 per cent.
● Allocation of Rs.200 crore for research on climate change.
● Irrigation and water resource company to be operationalised.
● National mission on food processing to be started in cooperation with state governments.
● Integrated Child Development Scheme to be strengthened and restructured with allocation of Rs.15,850 crore.
● Allocation of Rs.14,000 crore for rural water supply and sanitation.
● Infusion of Rs.15,888 crore in public sector banks, regional rural banks and NABARD in 2012-13.
● Infrastructure will require Rs.50 lakh crore in 12th Plan, half of this from the private sector.
● Completion of highway projects 44 per cent higher than in previous fiscal.
● External commercial borrowing of up to $1 billion permitted for airline sector.
● External commercial borrowings permitted to low-cost housing sector.
● From 2012-13, full subsidies for providing food security; in other sectors to the extent the economy can bear this.
● Hope to raise Rs.30,000 crore from disinvestments.
● New equity savings scheme to provide for income tax deduction
of 50 per cent for those who invest Rs.50,000 in equity and whose annual income is less than Rs.10 lakh.
● Corporate market reforms to be initiated.
● Bills on micro-finance institutions, national land bank and public debt management among those to be introduced in 2012-13.
● India's inflation structural, driven largely by agricultural constraints.
● Current account deficit 3.6 per cent in 2011-12; this put pressure on exchange rate.
● Growth in 2012-13 estimated at 7.6 per cent; expect inflation to be lower.
● Better monitoring of expenditure on government schemes.
● Fiscal 2011-12 year of recovery interrupted; reality turned out to be different.
● GDP growth in 2011-12 estimated at 6.9 per cent; had to battle double digit inflation for two years.
● Good news: agriculture and services continued to perform well; economy is now turning around; recovery in core sectors.
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