Budget 2018 Highlights

  • As a result of structural reforms, India is on course to achieve high growth of 8% plus GDP growth. IMF, in its latest Update, has forecast that India will grow at 7.4% next year. Manufacturing sector is back on good growth path. The services, mainstay of our growth, have also resumed their high growth rates of 8% plus. Our exports are expected to grow at 15% in 2017-18.
  • 372 specific business reform actions identified to improve ease of doing business; Evaluation of performance under this programme to be based on user feedback.
  • Rs. 80,000 crore disinvestment target for 2018-19, target for 2017-18 has been exceeded and will reach Rs. 1 lakh crore.
  • To benefit small, micro and medium enterprises, reduced corporate tax by 25 pc extended to companies with turnover of up to Rs. 250 crores.
  • Rupees 3,794 crore allocated to the MSME sector in the form of capital support and interest subsidy by 2022. Rs. 4.6 lakh crore sanctioned under MUDRA Scheme to finance MSMEs.
  • The government will fund 12% of wages for new employees of Employees' Provident Fund in all sectors. Take home salary of new women employees to go up in the formal sector. Only 8% PF to be cut in first three years.

Agriculture

  • Government to create employment of 321 crore person days, 3.17 lakh kilometres of rural roads, 51 lakh new rural houses, 1.88 crore toilets, and provide 1.75 crore new household electric connections with a view towards boosting agricultural growth
  • In a bid to give a boost to agricultural related sectors, the government will set up fisheries and aqua culture infra fund and animal husbandry infra fund with an outlay of Rs 10,000 crore.
  • Agri-Market Development Fund with a corpus of 2000 crore to be set up for developing agricultural markets. Food processing sector growing at 8 pc; Allocation for food processing has been doubled from Rs 700 crore to Rs 1400 crore.
  • Hundred per cent deduction to companies registered as Farmer Producer Companies and having annual turnover up to Rs 100 crores in respect of their profit derived from such activities for a period of five years from financial year 2018-19.
  • Operation green has been launched on the lines of operation flood. Sum of Rs 500 crore has been allocated for this purpose. This operation will help farmers generate produce.
  • Restructured National Bamboo Mission to be launched with an allocation of Rs 1290 crore to promote bamboo sector in a holistic manner


Infrastructure

  • Rs 14.34 lakh crore rupees to be spent for rural infrastructure.
  • National Highways exceeding 9,000-km will be completed in 2018-19.
  • 99 cities selected for smart cities project with an outlay of Rs 2.04 lakh crore.
  • 1 crore houses to be built under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in rural areas. By 2025, 110 million houses will be constructed and allotted under ‘housing for all’ Scheme.
  • 36,000-km of rail track renewal targeted in coming year. 4,267 unmanned railway crossings on broad gauge routes to be eliminated in next two years. Wifi, CCTVs to be progressively provided at all trains; escalators at stations with 25,000-plus footfalls.
  • Governmnet to expand capacity of airports by five times to cater to one billion trips a year. Regional air connectivity scheme shall connect 56 unserved airports and 31 unserved helipads.

Social Infrastructure

  • Budget for health, education and social security increased to Rs 1.38 lakh crore for 2018-19 from Rs 1.22 lakh crore in current fiscal.
  • Government to launch flagship National Health Protection scheme to cover 10 crore poor and vulnerable people; set up 24 new medical colleges and hospitals by upgrading district level ones.
  • 115 aspiration districts identified taking various indices of development into consideration; quality of life to be improved in these districts.
  • Scheme for revitalizing school infrastructure, with an allocation of Rs 1 lakh crore over four years. Called RISE - Revitalizing Infrastructure in School Education
  • A special scheme will be implemented to support the efforts of state governments of Haryana, Delhi-NCR, and Punjab to help tackle air pollution.


Digital Economy

  • Digital India focused on driving digital payments in India and boosting the optical fibre network in rural areas to improve internet connectivity and access. 5 lakh WiFi hotspots to provide broadband access to 5 crore rural people.

Renewable Energy

  • Import of solar tempered glass for manufacture of solar cells exempted from customs duty.

More details:

Finance Minister’s Budget Speech http://www.indiabudget.gov.in/ub2018-19/bs/bs.pdf

Multimedia site for Budget 2018: https://mofapp.nic.in/budgetmicrosite/index.html

Economic survey : http://mofapp.nic.in:8080/economicsurvey/