Key Highlights of Budget 2024

?? Capital Expenditure:

• FY25 capex retained at ?11.11 lakh crore (3.4% of GDP), up from last year's ?9.5 lakh crore.

?? Income Tax Changes:

• Standard deduction increased to ?75,000 from ?50,000.
• New tax rates:
• Salaried employees to save up to ?17,500.

?? Capital Gains Tax:

• Long-term capital gains: 12.5% (up from 10%)
• Short-term capital gains: 20% (up from 15%)
• Exemption limit: ?1.25 lakh/year.

?? Futures & Options:

• STT rate increased from 0.01% to 0.02%.

?? Angel Tax:

• Abolished.

?? Customs Duty:

• Mobile phones & PCDA: BCD reduced to 15%.
• Gold & silver: Reduced to 6%, platinum to 6.4%.
• Specific telecom equipment: BCD increased to 15%.
• 25 critical minerals exempted, lowered for two.

??♂? Employment & Skilling:

• ?2 lakh crore for PM Package of 5 schemes.
• Focus on education, employment, skilling: ?1.48 lakh crore.
• Employment-linked incentives, internships, and rental housing for workers.

???? Women Empowerment:

• ?3 lakh crore for women's schemes.
• Hostels and women-specific skilling programs.

?? Agriculture & Rural Development:

• Agriculture: ?1.52 lakh crore.
• Rural Development: ?2.66 lakh crore.
• Natural farming for 1 crore farmers in 2 years.

?? Bihar & Andhra Pradesh:

• Bihar: Airports, medical, sports, highways (?26,000 crore).
• Andhra Pradesh: ?15,000 crore, Polavaram project.

?? MSME & Manufacturing:

• Term loans for machinery.
• ?100 crore guarantee fund.
• SIDBI: 24 new branches.

?? Financial Initiatives:

• Mudra Loans limit: ?20 lakh.
• Higher Education Loans: Up to ?10 lakh with 3% interest subvention.
• IBC: New tech platform, resolved by 1,000+ companies.

?? FDI:

• Simplified rules to facilitate inflow.

?? Infrastructure:

• Additional ?26,000 crore for road connectivity.
• Critical Mineral Mission.

?? Affordable Housing:

• ?10 lakh crore for urban poor and middle-class families.
• Rooftop solar panels for 1 crore households.

?? Nuclear & Space:

• Bharat small reactors & modular reactors.
• Space economy expansion with ?1,000 crore venture fund.

?? Budget Estimates FY25:

• Fiscal deficit: 4.9% (from 5.1%).
• Market borrowing: ?14.01 lakh crore (from ?15.43 lakh crore).
• Receipts: ?32.07 lakh crore.
• Expenditure: ?48.21 lakh crore.

#Budget2024 #IndiaBudget #EconomicGrowth #TaxReform