The
finance minister commenced his Union Budget proposals
for 2007-08 by proposing to raise spending on health
and education and measures to improve the productivity
of the agricultural sector to spread the growth objectives
of the UPA government.
He
also promised more measures to control inflation, which
had reached 6.73 per cent in February, against the government''s
expectation of 5 to 5.5 per cent. The Economic Survey
released yesterday said that primary food articles constituted
40 per cent of the inflation.
Chidambaram
has raised the outlay for education by 34.2 per cent
in the coming fiscal year, raised health and family
welfare spending by 21.9 per cent and expanded the days
of reach of the National Rural Employment Guarantee
Programme from 200 to 330 of the poorest districts in
the country.
He
said "Revenues were buoyant for the third year
in succession. I have put the revenues to good use to
promote inclusive growth, equity and social justice."
(See: Video)
The
finance minister said, that the economy was in a stronger
position than ever before and "it therefore behoves
us to set higher goals."
Chidambaram
said a country with such a large population must be
almost self-sufficient in basic food items; otherwise
supply constraints could upset macroeconomic stability
and growth prospects. "Hence agriculture must top
the agenda of the policymakers," he added.
For
the common man, who witnessed an average per capita
income increase of 7.6 per cent last year, tax exemption
thresholds have been raised for 2007-08 on the back
of better revenue collections in the current fiscal.
Budget
highlights:
Taxes
-
Better
tax compliance
-
Threshold
limit of exemption to be increased by Rs10,000 taking
it up from Rs1,00,000 to Rs1,10,000
-
Threshold
limit of exemption for women increased to Rs1,45,000
-
Threshold
limit of exemption for senior citizens increased to
Rs195,000
-
Deduction
for medical insurance under Section 80D set at Rs15,000
Rs20,000 for senior citizens
-
Surcharge
on tax removed for companies with income up to Rs1
crore to benefit 12 lakh companies.
-
Five-year
tax holiday for hotels in the 2-star to 4-star categories
and convention halls with seating capacity 300 onwards
in Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad and Delhi
-
GDP
growth rate at 9.2 per cent for FY 2006-07
-
India
has registered average 8.6 per cent growth rate in
last 3 years
-
Agriculture
growth down to 2.3 per cent in 10th Plan period below
targeted 4 per cent
-
Farm
supply imbalances can disrupt growth
-
150
mn families into farming
-
Economy
is in stronger position than ever before
-
Faster
more inclusive growth main 11th Plan objective
-
Gross
domestic capital formation up 23.7 per cent
-
Apr-Jan
FDI at $12.5 bn, outpaces portfolio investment
-
All
indicators point to accelerating rate of investment
-
Rs1.65
trillion investment by central PSUs in FY 08
-
Gross
Budget Support of Rs2.05 trillion compared to Rs1.73
trillion earlier
-
Central
FY 08 plan allocation Rs1.55 trillion versus Rs1.31
trillion
Savings
rate
Savings
rate estimated at 32.4 per cent in FY-07
Banking
sector
Bank
credit Apr 1-Feb 2 expanded 29.6 per cent on year
Inflation
-
12,198km
of rural road has been built till December
-
15,054
villages to be connected by phones till December
-
Allocated
Rs40 billion for rural roads
-
75
per cent growth rate in electricity generation in
April - December
-
Govt
to award two more ultra power projects by July
-
Imperative
to take new steps to up power generation
-
Rural
electrification allocation at 39.83 billion rupee
FY 08
-
Rajiv
Gandhi Vidyatikaran Yojana allocation 39.8 billion
rupee
-
National
highway plan to get 106.7 billion FY 08
-
FY
08 APDRP support raised to 8 billion rupees versus
6.5 billion
-
Energy
security high on government agenda
-
Rs120
billion more earmarked for RIDF for FY 07-08
-
Separate
window for rural roads under RIDF to continue
-
Agriculture
to top the agenda of policy makers
-
Draft
National Policy for farmers under consideration
-
Bank
farm loans doubled in 2 years v/s 3 year aim
-
FY
07 farm credit seen Rs1.9 trillion v/s Rs1.75 trillion
target
-
5.3
million farmers brought under credit till December
-
Farm
credit growing at satisfactory rate
-
Farm
loan target at Rs2.25 trillion in FY 08
-
To
create additional irrigation for 2.4-million hectares
-
Pilot
project for weather based crop insurance scheme at
Rs1 billion
-
Weather-based
insurance to replace farm insurance scheme
-
Farm
insurance scheme stays in FY 08, gets Rs5 billion
-
New
insurance scheme for rural landless households
-
FY
07 fertilizer subsidy seen at Rs224.52 billion
-
World
Bank lent 21.8 billion rupees to renew 5,763 water
bodies
-
Depletion
of ground water is a concern
-
New
training programme planned for water harvesting
-
To
extend farm tech agency to 300 more districts
-
100
per cent subsidy for small, marginal farmers, 50 per
cent subsidy for small farmers for water management
-
Outlay
for Rainfed Irrigation Programme at Rs1 billion in
FY 08
-
Irrigation
FY 08 outlay at Rs110 billion v/s Rs71.21 billion
-
Special
purpose fund for coffee, rubber, spices proposed
-
World
Bank loan for water body renewal for Tamil Nadu
-
2
more World Bank loans seen for water body renewal
plan
-
Allocated
18 billion rupee to NABARD for farmer subsidy
-
NABARD
can issue tax-free rural bonds up to Rs 50 bn
-
NABARD
bond raising to augment re-finance capacity
-
Panel
on farm sector indebtedness to submit report soon
-
Special
development programme for oil seeds, maize
-
To
focus on improving productivity of pulses
