Union Budget 2018-2019: Highlights & Analysis PDF

Union Budget 2018-2019: Highlights & Analysis PDF

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has presented the Union Budget for 2018-19 in the Parliament. The budget of this year focuses on the uplift of agricultural sector, healthcare and education sectors of the country. Here we are going to explained in detailed all about the Highlights & Important Key Factors of Union Budget 2018-2019 from which chances are very high to get qustions in SBI Clerk Examinations and Other Upcoming Banking & SSC Exams. Also PDF version available at the bottom, So users can download the file for Upcoming Examinsations.

Key Highlights of Budget 2018 in various sectors

Fiscal Situation-

• The Fiscal deficit is 3.5% of GDP at Rs. 5.95 Lakh Crore in 2017-2018. The Budget 2018-19 has projected the fiscal deficit to be 3.3% of GDP in the next Fiscal.
• Rs. 21.57 Lakh Crores is transferred as the net GST to the states against the projection of Rs. 21.47 Lakh Crores.

Tax-

• There would be no change in personal income tax slab rates. (N.B – Approximately 85.51 Lakh new tax payers have filed Income Tax returns in the financial year 2017).
• Growth in Direct Taxes was 18.7% till Jan 15. There would be a surcharge of 10pc on income slab Rs.50 Lakh - 1 Crore and surcharge of 15pc on income above 1 Crore till the next year.
• There would be 100% tax deduction on co-operative societies.
• There is an increase of 25% on corporate tax to the companies with turnover up to Rs. 250 Crore in the FY 2016-17.
• This budget provides incentives for the Senior Citizens. There would be an exemption in income of Rs. 10000 from Fixed Deposits of Banks and Post offices for them. They would enjoy Rs. 50000 per anum exemption for medical insurance.
• The limit for investment in the interest-bearing schemes of LIC is doubled from Rs. 7.5 Lakh to Rs. 15 Lakh.
• There would be a standard deduction of Rs. 40,000 for transport, medical reimbursement for the salaried tax-payers. It would result a loss of Rs. 8,000 Crore due to the standard deduction allowed to the salaried employees.
• The Union Government has decided to reduce hardships faced in the realty deals.
• There would be a 10% tax on the long term capital gains exceeding Rs. 1 Lakh without indexing while the tax in case of short term capital remains at 15%. The tax on the distributed income would be 10%.
• Education cess is increased from 3 pc to 4 pc to collect the additional revenue of Rs. 11,000 Crore.
• The Union Government has made the PAN mandatory for any entity/ organization entering into a financial transaction of Rs. 2.5 Crore or above. (PAN must be used as the Unique Entity Number for non-individuals from 1^st April).
• GST revenue for only 11 months, instead of the usual 12 months, would be 21.5 lakh crore. 

Custom Duties –

• Social Welfare Surcharge would be 10% on the imported goods.
• Custom Duties on Televisions, Sunglasses, Cigarette lighter, toys, bus, truck tyres, selected furniture and Mobile Phones are increased. The custom duties on crude edible vegetable oils, safflower seed oil are increased from 12.5% to 30% while in case of refined edible vegetable oil is hiked from 20% to 35%.
• Custom Duties on imitation jewelry, watches are also hiked.
• The Import Duty on LCD/ LED/ OLED panels, parts of Television, footwear, smart watches, and wearable devices are also hiked.

Agriculture –

• The Government has declared the Budget to be farmer-friendly and has also ensured that the farmers would get 1.5 times of produce price (Minimum Selling Price) in case of the Kharif Crops.
• The Government has decided to set up an Agricultural Market and infra fund of Rs. 2000 Crore to strengthen the market. An amount of Rs. 500 Crore would be allocated to promote the Farmer Producers Organizations (FPOs), processing facilities, agri-logistics and professional management under the Operation Green.
• The Fisheries and Animal Husbandry would enjoy the facility of Kisan Credit Cards. A fund of Rs. 10,000 Crore is allocated for these sectors.
• Government has also launched a “Bamboo Mission” with a fund of Rs. 1200 Crore referring it as “green gold”.
• A special scheme is also launched to manage the crop reduce in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi due to pollution.
• The agriculture Credit Target is increased from Rs. 8.5 Lakh Crore to 11 Lakh Crore.

Rural Economy –

• 8 Crore poor women would get new LPG connections under the Ujjwala Yojona.
• 4 Crore poor people would get the power connection under the PM Saubhagya Yojona. The Government has decided to spend Rs. 16000 Crore on this scheme.
• 2 Crore toilets would be constructed under Swachh Bharat Mission in the next Fiscal year.
• 1 Crore houses would be built in the rural areas under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojona.
• The Government has allocated Rs. 5750 Crore for National Livelihood Scheme and Rs. 9975 Crore for Social Security Schemes in the next financial year.

Education –

• The Government has decided to increase the Digital intensity in the field of education. For this purpose, a fund of Rs. 1 Lakh Crore is allocated to the revitalization and up gradation of the education sector under RISE (Revitalizing Infrastructure in School Education). The learning based outcomes and research would also be promoted by Government. 
• The Government has decided to build the “Ekalavya Schools” in every block having ST population of 50% at par with the Navodaya Vidyalayas within 2022.
• The Government has aimed to provide digital boards instead of black boards in schools by 2022.
• Under the PM Research Fellows scheme, 1000 students would be identified by the Government every year. These students would be eligible to pursue PHDs in IIT and IISc and can also teach the undergraduate students once a week during this time.

Health –

• Government has launched the Aayushman Bharat Program. Under the scheme, 1.5 Lakh centers would be set up to provide health services in the locality. Rs. 1200 Crore is allocated for the scheme.
• Under the Flagship National Healthcare Protection Scheme, approximately 50 Crore beneficiaries would get up to Rs. 5 Lakh per family per year for the secondary and tertiary care hospitalization. It is the largest Government funded healthcare program of the World. After reviewing the performance of the scheme, the universal health coverage would be expanded.
• Rs. 600 Crore is allocated for the Tuberculosis patients. They would get Rs. 500 per month during their treatment.
• Government has announced to set up one medical college for every three parliamentary constituencies. Government would also work on upgrading the facilities of hospitals and medical colleges along with 24 new Government medical colleges.

Social Security –

• The Government has decided to expand PM Jan Dhan Yojona. Under this scheme, 16 Crore accounts would be included under the micro insurance and pension schemes.
• Under the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojona, 1.26 Crore accounts would be opened.
• The Pradhan Mantri Jivan Bima Yojona would benefit approximately 5.22 Crore families.
• The Social Inclusion Schemes for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes would get Rs. 52,719 Crore and Rs. 39,139 Crore respectively.

MSME –

• The Government has allocated Rs. 3,794 Crore to the MSME sector as Capital support and interest subsidy by 2022.
• The Government has set up Rs. 3 Lakh Crore target for Mudra Yojona. Rs. 4.6 Lakh Crore is sanctioned under this scheme.

Petroleum/ Diesel Sector –

• Excise on the unbranded Diesel and Petrol is reduced by Rs. 2/ liter.

Employee- Related Scheme –

• The Government has decided to contribute 12% of the wages of the new employees in the pension Scheme (EPF) in all sectors for coming three years while women contribution to EPF is reduced to 8% for the first 3 years.

Infrastructure –

• Government has decided to construct a new tunnel in Sera Pass to promote tourism.
• Under Smart City Mission 99 out of 100 cities are selected with an outlay of Rs. 2.04 Lakh.
• Under AMRUT scheme, Government has approved the state plans of Rs. 77,640 Crore for supplying water to all households of 500 cities.
• The Government has also planned to convert 10 prominent tourist sites into iconic tourist destination with the scope of private funding, branding and marketing.
• Under Bharatmala Project, 35,000 Km would be developed under phase 1.
• The Government has also introduced to “pay as you use” toll payment system.

Railway Budget –

• The Government has allocated Rs. 1.48 Lakh Crore for Railway Capex which is higher than the previous allocation.
• The Government has decided to eliminate 4267 unmanned Railway Crossing in Broad Gauge within 2 years.
• Escalators would be provided to all important station with footfall more than 25000.
• The Government has also declared to install CCTV and WiFi in more stations and trains.
• An SMS based service "Clean My Coach" would be started. 
• 'Coach Mitra’ would be started to register all the problems related to coach. 
• All the trains would have Bio-Toilet by 2019. 
• Rs 11,000 Crore are allocated for Mumbai rail network and Rs 17,000 Crore for the Bengaluru metro. On the other hand, 150 km of additional suburban railway networks would be set up at the cost of Rs 17,000 Crore in Bengaluru.

Aviation –

• The Government has decided to expand the Aviation sector and has proposed to increase the number by 5 times billion trips a year. For the purpose, Rs. 60 Crore is allocated to start the initiative.
• Under UDAN scheme, 64 unconnected Airports would be connected.

Markets-

• The Government has taken additional measures to strengthen environment for capitalists and inventors.
• SEBI has considered mandating large corporations to meet the 1/4th of the debt needs.

Technology-

• The Government has taken initiatives to make India digital. For this purpose, Rs. 3073 Crore is allocated.
• 5 lakh WiFi HotSpots would be provided for the Broadband accessing to 5 Crore rural citizens. Rs 10,000 crore is allocated for it.
• Government would also take measures to stop cryptocurrency circulation and has considered it a illegal tender.
• The Government would explore the usage of the Blockchain technology.

Industry –

• The Government has set a disinvestment target of Rs. 1 Lakh Crore for the financial year 2018 and Rs. 80000 Crore for the financial year 2019.
• Oriental Insurance Co, National Insurance Co and United Assurance Co would be merged into one entity and listed subsequently.

Banking-

• In case of Banking sector, the Government has decided to pave the way for public banks to lend additional 5 Lakh Crore.

Industry-

• The Government has also allocated Rs. 7148 Crore for Textile sector.
• The Government has launched a scheme for named GOBARDHAN (Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan).

Defense-

• In Defense Sector, the Government has allocated Rs. 2.82 Lakh Crore for 2018-19.

Others –

• Rs 1.69 lakh crore is provided as the food subsidy in the FY 2018-19.
• The Government has revised emoluments for the President at Rs. 5 Lakh, Rs. 4 Lakh for Vice President, Rs. 3.5 Lakh for Governors. 
• The Government has allocated Rs 150 Crore to commemorate 150 years of birth of the Mahatma Gandhi. 

Conclusion:

As per our analysis this budget is not up to the mark as we all are expecting. However we can say few sectors will get benifits & few will not as categorised below:

• Benifitted Sectors: Farmers, Healthcare, Transport Companies, Airports.
• Not Benifitted Sectors: Mobile Phones, Financial Sectors - 10% LTCG Tax, Salaried Class - No change in income tax.

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