Budget Highlights

[Kedar Pande]

Highlights of the Interim Budget

Finance Minister P Chidambaram presented the Interim Budget for 2014-15 on Monday.

Here are the highlights of the Interim Budget:

Excise duty on small cars, motorcycles and SUVs reduced.

Service tax relief storage for warehousing for rice.

Excise duty cut from 12 to 10 per cent in capital goods sector to stimulate growth

Blood banks to be exempt from service tax

Excise duty on mobile handset to be 6 pc on CENVAT credit to encourage domestic production

No changes in tax laws in interim budget: FM.

Moratorium on interest on student loans taken before March 31, 2009; to benefit 9 lakh borrowers.

Social Justice Ministry gets Rs 6730 crore; Panchayati Raj Ministry Rs 7000 crore, says FM

Minority bank accounts have swelled to 43,53,000 by 2013-14 from 14,15,000 bank accounts 10 years ago.

Rs 500 crore estimated requirement for implementing one-rank-one-pay scheme for armed forces in 2014-15

Defence allocation increased by 10 per cent to Rs 2.24 lakh crore

Food subsidy will be Rs 1,15,000 crore for implementation of National Food Security Act 28

Rs 2,46,397 crore allocated for food, fertilizer and fuel subsidy.

Budgetary support to Railways increased from Rs 26,000 crore to Rs 29,000 crore 2014-15.

Plan expenditure will be Rs 5,55,322 crore in 2014-15, unchanged from last fiscal.

500 MW fast breeder test reactor in Kalpakkam to be ready shortly; 7 nuclear power reactors under construction

Rs 3,370 crore to transferred to 2.1 crore LPG users;

Govt committed to Aadhaar-based LPG transfer but scheme on hold temporarily.

Rs 1,000 crore grant for Nirbhaya Fund will be non-lapsable; another Rs 1,000 crore to be given next fiscal:

Rs 1,200 crore additional assistance to N-E states to be released before end of the year.

Average growth under UPA's ten year rule was 6.2 per cent against 5.9 during NDA period of 1999-2004.

Average growth under UPA-I was 8.4 per cent and UPA-II 6.6 per cent.

GDP growth rate in Q3 and Q4 of 2013-14 will be at least 5.2 pc:

3 more industrial corridors - Chennai-Bangalore, Bangalore-Mumbai, Amritsar-Kolkata -  under various stages of implementation.

Merchandise export to grow by 6.8 pc to USD 326 billion.

Agriculture credit will cross USD 45 billion against $41 billion in 2012-13.

Govt pegs investment rate at 34.8%; saving rate @ 30.1%

FY14 Current Account Deficit seen at $45 bn

Fiscal deficit to be contained at 4.6 pc of GDP in 2013-14.

CA Kedar Pande
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