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Union Budget 2017-18 Key Highlights

Highlights of Union Budget merged with Railway Budget 2017-18

Finance minister Arun Jaitley today on 1st Feb 2017 presented the union budget 2017-18 in the Lok Sabha. This time, merger of railway budget with Finance Budget 2017 is a historic step by government. Here are the key highlights of the Union Budget for your reference:

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  1. No cash transactions above Rs 3 lakh

2. Now, a political party can receive Rs. 2000 as maximum cash donation. This step taken to increase the transparency in political funding.

3. Corporate tax rate for MSMEs’ (annual turnover less than Rs. 50 crore) reduced to 25% from 30%

4. Individual income tax rate reduced to 5% for income bracket of Rs 2.5-5 lakh; All other categories to get uniform benefit of Rs12,500 per person;

Recommended Read: Income Tax Slab for F.Y 2016 -17

5. Surcharge@10% on income bracket Rs. 50 lakh – Rs. 1 crore

6. Simple one-page ITR form for taxable income up to Rs 5 lakh

7. Time period of revising tax returns reduced to 12 months

8. MAT (Minimum Alternate Tax) not to be abolished, to be allowed for carry-forward for 15 years in place of 10 years

9. PMMY(Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana) lending target has been doubled at Rs 2.44 lakh crore for 2017-18

3,500 km railway lines to be commissioned in 2017-18 against 2,800 km in 2016-17

10. During 2017-18, another 5 lakh ponds to be constructed for drought-proofing

11. AadharPay, a merchant version of Aadhaar-enabled payment system to be launched shortly for those without debit cards, mobile phones

12. By 2019 all passenger coaches of railways to be fitted with bio-toilets

12. 1 crore houses to be completed by 2019 for houseless and those living in ‘Kacha’ houses

13. Rs 19,000 crore in 2017-18 for PMGSY; together with contribution from states, Rs 27,000 crore to be spent

14. Total allocation for rural, agricultural and allied sectors for 2017-18 is up by 24 percent from last year to a record Rs 1,87,223 crore,

15. Target for agricultural credit in 2017-18 has been fixed at a record Rs 10 lakh crore

16. Coverage of Fasal Bima Yojana to go up from 30 percent of cropped area, to 40 percent in 2017-18, 50 percent in 2018-19

17. NABARD to set up dedicated micro-irrigation fund to be set to achieve Per Drop More Crop mission

18. Corpus of NABARD’s long-term irrigation fund raised to Rs 40,000 crore

19. Highest ever allocation to MGNREGA at Rs 48,000 crore

20. 100 percent electrification of villages to be completed by May 2018

21. Rs 27,000 crore on to be spend on PMGSY; 1 crore houses to be completed by 2017-18 for the homeless.

22. To construct one crore houses by 2019 for homeless, PM Awas Yojana allocation increased from Rs 15,000 crore to Rs 23,000 crore

23. Rs 500 crore allocated to set up Mahila Shakti Kendras, Allocation raised from Rs 1.56 lakh crore to Rs 1.84 lakh crore for women and child welfare

24. Two new AIIMS to be constructed at Jharkhand and Gujarat

25. 35 percent increase in allocation for Supreme Court to Rs 52,393 crore

26. Budget allocation for highways stepped up to Rs 64,000 crore in financial year 2018 from Rs 57,676 crore

27. Rs 2,74,114 crore allocated for defence budget, excluding pension; This includes Rs 86,000 crore for defence capital

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