Union Budget 2017: Key Highlights
Q. Which budget has given the highest ever allocation for MGNREGA?- Published on 03 Feb 17a. Budget 2016
b. Budget 2015
c. Budget 2017
d. Budget 2014
ANSWER: Budget 2017
To achieve this objective, the Union Budget has found the following 10 key areas to make a difference to the economy. Some of the initiatives announced for these sectors include -
1. Rural Infrastructure- 50000 Gram Panchayats will be free of poverty by 2019.
- MGNREGS allocation is up from INR 38500 crore rupees to INR 48,000 crore rupees for 2017-18. This is the maximum ever allocation for the scheme.
- Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana will be allocated around INR 27000 crore.
- Proposal to complete 1,00,00,000 houses by 2019 for houseless and those living in kuccha houses is also in place.
- 100 percent village electrification will be achieved by 1 May 2019.
2. Education, skill and Employment- The Union Grants Commission (UGC) will be revamped.
- The focus of the Budget 2017 is on improving innovation especially among school-going kids.
- An autonomous National Testing Agency will be created, which will be a unified agency to conduct all national level entrance examinations.
- This move will let other agencies like AICTE to focus on managerial aspects of education.
3. Infrastructure- Total allocation for infrastructure is pegged at INR 3,96,134 crore.
- The Foreign Investment Promotion Board can be phased out. T
- 3500 kilometres of railway lines will be commissioned this year, up from 2,800 km last year.
- Proposal for setting up of a Rail Sanraksha Kosh with corpus of INR 1 lakh crore rupees in place.
- Railways to offer competitive, affordable ticket booking facility. No service charges for tickets booked through IRCTC.
- INR 2,41,387 crore rupees allocated for the transportation sector in 2017-18.
- 3,500 km of railway lines to be commissioned this year up from 2,800 km last year.
- New metro rail policy to be announced with fresh modes of financing.
4. Financial Sector - INR 10,000 crore allocated for re-calibration of banks; additional funds to be allocated if required.
- Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana lending target is estimated at INR 2.44 lakh crore for 2017-18.
- The target of 2500 crore digital transactions will be attained by March 2018.
- A Payment Regulatory Board will be set up for overseeing regulatory aspects of cashless transactions.
- Banks will introduce additional 10 lakh Point of Sale (PoS) machines by March 2017.
5. Digital Economy- Accepting a suggestion by SIT on Black Money to ban cash transactions above INR 3 lakhs, the FM has proposed an amendment to the Income-tax Act in the Finance Bill.
- The Government will launch two new Schemes to promote the usage of BHIM App i.e, Referral Bonus Scheme for individuals and a Cashback Scheme for merchants.
6. Tax administration- The Individuals tax rates slashed on income from 2.5 lakh to 5 lakh reduced to 5 percent as against 10 percent.
- 0 percent tax liability on income up to 3 lakhs.
- 10 percent Surcharge on individuals with income between 50 lakh to 1 Crore.
- 15 percent surcharge on individuals with income of 1 cr and more.
- No cash transaction on more than INR 3 lakhs to reduce black money.
- Holding period for long-term capital gains for immobile assets lowered from 3 years to 2 years; base year for indexation to be 2001.
7. Indian farming sector- In the year 2017-18, agriculture is expected to develop at 4.1 per cent.
- Target for agricultural has been fixed at a massive INR 10 lakh crore for FY 2017-18.
- In the current year, around INR 10 lakh crore will be provided as credit to the farmers with 60 days interest waiver.
- Provision of adequate flow of credit to farmers in eastern states and the small and marginal farmers across India.
- The Cabinet gave approval for extension of tenure of loans under Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana from 15 to 20 year.
- A dedicated micro-irrigation fund will be set up by NABARD to achieve the goal of 'Per Drop More Crop' with initial corpus will be INR 5000 crore.
