Union Budget 2017 takeaways for digital economy
Q. According to the Union Budget, transaction above how much will not be permitted in cash?- Published on 03 Feb 17a. INR 3 lakhs
b. INR 4 lakhs
c. INR 5 lakhs
d. INR 6 lakhs
ANSWER: INR 3 lakhs
The Budget 2017 has identified digital economy as one of the key drivers of the economy. Accordingly, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced following initiatives:- The FM informed that the Union Government has accepted a suggestion by SIT Team on Black Money to ban cash transactions above INR 3 lakhs. An amendment to the Income-tax Act has been proposed in the Finance Bill.
- The Government will launch two new Schemes to promote the usage of BHIM App namely Referral Bonus Scheme for individuals and a Cashback Scheme for merchants.
- A merchant version of Aadhar Enabled Payment System, named as Aadhar Pay, will be launched shortly. The system will be beneficial for those who lack have debit cards, mobile wallets and mobile phones.
- A Mission will be set-up with a target of INR 2500 crore digital transactions for 2017-18 through
1. UPI,
2. USSD,
3. Aadhar Pay,
4. IMPS and
5. Debit cards. - Exemption has been proposed on BCD, Excise/CV duty and SAD on miniaturised POS card reader for m-POS, micro ATM standards version 1.5.1, Finger Print Readers/Scanners and Iris Scanners.
- Approval has been given to create a Payments Regulatory Board in the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) by replacing the existing Board for Regulation and Supervision of Payment and Settlement Systems.
- Steps would be taken to promote and possibly mandate petrol pumps, fertilizer depots, municipalities, block offices, road transport offices, universities, colleges, hospitals and other institutions to have facilities for digital payments, such as BHIM App.
- It has been proposed that the presumptive income tax for small and medium tax payers with turnover proceeds up to INR 2 crore will be reduced from the present 8 per cent, which is counted as presumptive income, to 6 per cent in respect of turnover got by non-cash means.
- Banks have targeted to introduce extra 10 lakh new PoS terminals by March 2017. The aim is to introduce 20 lakh Aadhar based PoS by September 2017.
- Arun Jaitley also proposed to limit the cash expenditure allowable as deduction, both for revenue as well as capital expenditure, as high as to INR 10000.
- The limit of cash donation which can be received by a Charity Trust is being reduced from INR 10000 to INR 2000.
- The Union Government also plans to encourage SIDBI to refinance credit institutions. This is a body which will provide unsecured loans, at reasonable interest rates, to borrowers on the basis of their transaction history.
