Budget – Summary and Highlights

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General

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (276k cr) – Provided free food, cooking gas and DBT to vulnerable sections to support during lockdown

Atmanirbhar 1 – May 2020; Atmanirbhar 2 & 3 announced later. Total allocation 27.1 lakh crore, 13.1% of GDP (including measures by RBI).

Major Reforms undertaken (Important for Subjective and Interview)

·      Re-classification of MSME

·      Commercialisation of mining sector

·      Agricultural and Labor reforms

·      Privatisation of PSEs

·      One Nation One Ration Card

·      PLI Scheme

·      Faceless Income Tax Assessment

·      DBT

·      Financial Inclusion

Important historical dates

·      Goa’s accession to India: 1961

·      BRICS Presidency 2021: India

·      8th census in 2021 (to be digital)

·      Mahakumbh: Haridwar 2021

Important organisations

·      G-20

·      BRICS

·      International Solar Alliance

·      Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure

Health and Well Being

·      Outlay: (223k cr), 137% increase.

·      Three areas: Preventive, Curative and Well-Being

·      PM Atma Nirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana (64k cr in 6 years):

o  Setting up National Institution for One Health (Regional research platform for WHO South East Asia Region)

o  Strengthening of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC): 5 Regional Branches

·      Mission Poshan 2.0: Merging of Supplementary Nutrition Programme and the Poshan Abhiyan

·      COVID-19 Vaccine (35k crore)

·      Regulation

o  National Commission for Allied Healthcare Professionals Bill

o  National Nursing and Midwifery Commission Bill

Water, Sanitation and Environment

·      Jal Jeevan Mission Urban (287k cr in 5 years): Universal water supply and liquid waste management in 500 AMRUT cities

·      Urban Swatch Bharat Mission 2.0 (141k cr in 5 years)

·      Air pollution (2.2k cr) for 42 cities

·      Voluntary Vehicle Policy Scrapping Policy (15yr for commercial + 20yr personal): Help reduce pollution and oil demand

Physical and Financial Capital and Infrastructure

PLI Scheme for 13 sectors already announced (197k crore in 5 years)

Infrastructure

National Infrastructure Pipeline: Launched 2019; >7000 projects (200 projects worth 110k projects already completed)

Three measure to achieve NIP targets

1.    Institutional Structures:

a.    Development Finance Institute (20k cr initial capital, 5 lakh cr lending target for 5 yrs)

b.    FPI in InVITS and REITs

2.    Asset Monetisation: NHAI and PGCIL sponsoring 1 InVIT each. Railways to monetise dedicated freight corridor assets. In future:

a.    Roads under NHAI

b.    Oil and Gas Pipelines

c.    Airports

d.    Railways infra

e.    Warehouses of CWC and NAFED

f.     Sports Stadiums

3.    Capital Expenditure

a.    554k cr, 35% increase; 44k crore with DEA (Economic Affairs) to provide to departments/schemes showing good progress

b.    200k cr to states and autonomous bodies

Road & Highway

Outlay: 118k cr (highest ever)

Bharatmala Pariyojana Scheme (3800 km out of 13000 km completed). New corridors planned.

Railways

Outlay: 110k cr

Present dedicated freight corridor projects:

·      Western: Dadri, UP to Mumbai

·      Eastern: Ludhiana, Punjab to Dankuni, WB

Future dedicated freight corridor projects:

·      East Coast corridor from Kharagpur to Vijayawada

·      East-West Corridor from Bhusaval to Dankuni

·      North-South corridor from Itarsi to Vijayawada

Urban

MetroLite and MetroNeo: Low cost metro system in Tier 2 cities

Power

·      Added 139 GW, connected 2.8cr households, added 1.41 lakh km of transmission lines

·      Revamped scheme for DISCOMS (305k cr in 5yr)

·      National Hydrogen Energy Mission

Ports & Shipping

Recycling of Ships Act, 2019 and acceded to Hong Kong International Convention (For safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships, 2009)

Textiles

Mega Investment Textiles Parks (MITRA): 7 parks in 3yrs

Petroleum & Natural Gas

·      Ujjwala Scheme (beneficiaries: 1cr more + 8cr already)

·      Capital infusion: Solar Energy Corporation of India (1000cr) and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (1500cr)

Financial Sector

·      Insurance: FDI increased to 74%

·      Asset Reconstruction Company Limited and Asset Management Company to be setup to manage stressed assets

·      NBFC loans to be considered under SARFESI reduced from 50 lakhs to 20 lakhs

·      Definition of Small Company revised under Companies Act: Paid capital (50 lakh to 2 Cr.) and Turnover (2 Cr to 20 Cr)

·      MCA21 3.0 using AI, ML and Data Analytics with additional modules for e-scrutiny, e-Adjudication, e-Consultation and Compliance Management

·      Privatization of 2 banks and 1 Insurance Company

·      Disinvestment target 175k cr

Treasury Single Account (TSA) System: Autonomous bodies directly draw funds from Government’s account at time of actual expenditure, saving interest costs

Inclusive Development for Aspirational India

Agriculture

MPS: Wheat (75k cr), Paddy (142k cr), Pulses (10k cr), Cotton (26k cr)

While wheat and paddy corner lion share, and allocation has increased by 2x and 3x in last 7 years, pulses and cotton it has increase 40x and 2500x

SWAMITVA (Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas) Scheme: Distribution of property cards

Allocations

·      Agricultural credit: 16.5 lakh cr

·      Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (40k cr)

·      Micro Irrigation Fund (under NABARD): Corpus increased 10k cr from 5k cr

Operation Green Scheme to be extended to 22 perishable products

Multipurpose Seaweed Park in Tamil Nadu

Migrant Workers and Labourers

One Nation One Ration Card

4 Labor Codes with following features:

·      Social security benefits for gig and platform workers

·      Minimum wages for all workers + covered by ESIC

·      Women will be allowed to work in night-shifts with adequate protection

·      Compliance burden on employers reduced with single registration and licensing, and online returns.

Financial Inclusion

Stand Up India for SCs, STs, and women: Margin requirement reduced to 15% from 25%. Agri & allied loans to be covered

Reinvigorating Human Capital

Education

·      100 new Sainik Schools in partnership with NGOs/private schools/states

·      Glue Grant to create umbrella structures in 9 cities with many educational institutions

·      Central University in Leh

·      750 Eklavya model residential schools in our tribal areas

Skilling

·      Training Inter Training Programme (TITP) between India and Japan

·      Partnership with UAE

Innovation and R&D

·      Allocations: National Research Foundation (2019): 5k cr for 5yrs; Digital Payments: 1.5k cr

·      National Language Translation Mission (NTLM)

·      New Space India Limited (NSIL): PSU under Department of Space will execute the PSLV-CS51 launch (with Amazonia Satellite from Brazil)

·      Deep Ocean Mission: 4k cr over 5yrs

Fiscal Numbers

2020-21(RE)

·      Total expenditure – 34.5 lakh cr

·      CAPEX – 4.39 lakh cr

·      FD – 9.5%

2021-22

·      Total expenditure – 34.8 lakh cr

·      CAPEX – 5.5 lakh cr

·      FD – 6.8%

·      Gross borrowings from market – 12 lakh cr

·      Contingency Fund of India increase from 5k to 30k cr

·      Deviation Statement under Sections 4(5) and 7(3)(b) of FRBM Act

·      Revenue deficit grant of 118k cr to states

Part B

·      IT filers doubled in 5 yrs (6.5 cr in 2020)

·      Re-opening of tax assessment reduced to 3yrs

·      Vivad Se Vishwas (for resolving pending direct tax disputes) successful: 110k taxpayers and 85k crore. Dispute Resolution Committee to be setup for small taxpayers.

·      Faceless assessment and appeal introduced in 2020, National Faceless Income Tax Appellate Tribunal Centre to be setup.

·      Notified Infrastructure Debt Funds can issue Zero Coupon Bonds

·      Tax holiday/incentives to continue for affordable housing, startups to continue for FY21-22.

·      Dividend Distribution Tax abolished in 2019-20 budget.

·      100% Tax exemption to foreign Sovereign Wealth Funds and Pension Funds was provided in 2019-20 budget.