Chidambaram presented Budget 2013-14 in Parliament

New Delhi: The Finance Minister P Chidambaram is presenting one of the most highly anticipated budgets of recent years on Thursday, a blueprint for austerity that forms the centrepiece of India’s efforts to stave off a damaging credit ratings downgrade. It is a challenge for the Finance Minister to strike a balance between pragmatism and populism as this will be last budget before the Lok Sabha elections.
Cheaper: Jewellery, leather goods
– Expensive: Cigarettes, cigars, high-end mobiles
– Duty on imported bike hiked
– Duty on SUVs hiked from 27 percent to 30 percent
– 100 percent duty on high-end imported vehicles
– 11 lakh beneficiaries have received benefit under Direct Benefit Transfer scheme
– Plan expenditure pegged at Rs 555,322 crore. Non plan expenditure pegged at Rs 11,09,975 crore
– Low interest rate funds to be provided from Clean Energy Fund for green projects for a period of five years

– Generation based incentives to wind energy projects reintroduced, Rs 800 crore provided for the purpose to Ministry of New & Renewable Energy

– Constraints will not come in the way for providing additional funds for security of the nation

– Rs 2,03,672 crore, including Rs 86,741 crore capital expenditure to Defence

– Grant of Rs 100 crore each to AMU (Aligarh), BHU (Varanasi) and TISS (Guwahati) and INTACH

– National Institute for Sports to train coaches to be set up at Patiala at a cost of Rs 250 crore

– Rs 5,87,082 crore to be transferred to states under share of taxes and non plan grants
– No revision in tax slabs or I-T rates
– Rs 1000 crore for Skill Development programme

– Nibhaya fund for security of women. Rs 1,000 crore to empower women and provide safety in the wake of the Delhi gang rape incident

– Rs 6,000 crore allocated for rural housing fund. National Housing Bank (NHB) to set up urban housing bank fund. Rs 2000 crore for urban housing

– Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) to submit its report next month

– Standing Council of Experts in Ministry of Finance to examine transaction cost of doing business in India

– Rs 14,000 crore capital infusion into public sector banks in 2013-14

– All Regional Rural Banks and cooperative banks to be e-linked by this year-end

– Insurance companies will be empowered to open branches in Tier-II cities with approval of IRDA

– KYC in banks sufficient for acquiring insurance policy

– Public sector general insurance companies to set up adalts to clear disputes related to claims

– Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana benefit will be extended to rickshaw pullers, auto and taxi drivers and sanitation workers

– Comprehensive social security package being evolved by convergence of several schemes run by various ministries

– Investor with stake of 10 percent or less will be treated as FII; any stake more than 10 percent will be treated as FDI

– FIIs will be allowed to participate in exchange traded currency derivatives

– Schemes for cities to take up waste to energy projects

– Small and medium companies to be allowed to listed on MSME exchange without making a public offer
– 5 million tons Dabhol LNG import terminal to be operate at full capacity in 2013-14

– FM asks state governments to prepare financial restructuring plan for power distribution companies at the earliest

– SIDBI’s re-financing facility to MSMEs to be doubled to Rs 10,000 crore

– Incubators set up by companies in academic institutions will qualify for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities

– Rs 500 crore would be allocated for addressing environmental issues faced by textile industry

– Concessional six per cent interest on loans to weavers

– All PSU banks to have ATMs at all their branches by March 31

– Rs 532 crore for modernisation of postal network soon

– Rs 655 crore for Ministry of Panchayati Raj

– Over Rs 5000 croe to Department of Space

– Rs 500 crore to National Sport Coaching Institute
– Current year’s economic growth rate to be below India’s potential growth rate of 8 percent
– Average economic growth rate in 11th Plan period was 8 percent, highest ever in any Plan period
– Economic space constrains due to high fiscal deficit, lower savings and investment and tight monetary policy

– Current account deficit continues to be high due to excessive dependence on oil, coal and gold imports and slowdown in exports

– India does not have choice between welcoming and spurning foreign investment; it is an imperative
– Inflation hindering growth. Battle against inflation must be fought at all fronts
– Government brought down headline WPI inflation to 7 percent and core inflation to 4.2 percent. Food inflation is worrying
– Plan expenditure in 12th Five Year Plan revised to Rs 14,30,825 crore or 96 percent of budgeted expenditure

– Budget expenditure is Rs 16,65,297 crore and Plan expenditure Rs 5,55, 322 crore

– The revised expenditure target is Rs 14,30,825 crore or 96 percent of Budget estimate for this fiscal. In 2013-14, the budget estimate is Rs 16,65,297 crore

– One overarching goal to provide education and skills to youth for securing jobs in the 2013-14

– Rs 41,561 crore for SC sub-plan; Rs 24,598 crore for tribal sub plan allocated

– Additional sum of Rs 200 crore allocated to Women and Child Welfare Ministry to address issues of vulnerable women

– Rs 3511 crore allocated to Minority Affairs Ministry which is 60 percent of the revised estimates
– Rs 110 crore to be allocated to the department of disability affairs
– Rs 15,260 crore to Drinking Water and Sanitation
– Indian Institute of Biotechnology to come up in Ranchi
– Rs 13,215 crore to Mid Day Meal programme
– Rs 10,000 crore for Food Security Bill
– Rs 24,598 for tribal plan
– Rs 65,867 crore allocated to for Ministry of Human Resource Development
– Rs 1106 for Alternative Medicines
– Rs 1400 crore for Water Purification Plants
– Rs 37,330 crore allocated for Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
– Rs 1069 crore allocated to Department of Aryush
– Rs 4,727 crore to be allocated for medical education and research. Rs 1,069 crore to be given to Department of Ayush
– Medical colleges in six more AIIMS-like institutions to start functioning this year; Rs 1650 crore allocated for the purpose
– Rs 5,284 crore to various Ministries for scholarships for SC/ST, OBC and minority students
– Rs 17,700 crore provided for Integrated Child Development Scheme
– Rs 17,700 crore to be allocated for Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS)
– Rs 80,194 crore allocation for Ministry of Rural Development in 2013-14. About Rs 33,000 crore for MGNREGA
– Rs 80,194 crore allocated for rural development schemes
– States which have completed Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana will be eligible for PMGSY-II, others will continue with PMGSY-I
– Rs 14,873 crore for JNNURM for urban transportation in 2013-14 against Rs 7,880 crore in the current fiscal
– Foodgrain production in 2012-13 will be over 250 million tons
– Average annual growth rate of agriculture and allied services estimated at 3.6 percent in 2012-13 when 250 MT foodgrains was produced
– Rs 27,049 crore allocation to the Agriculture Ministry in 2013-14
– Rs 7 lakh crore target fixed for agriculture credit for 2013-14 compared to Rs 5.75 lakh crore in the current year
– Eastern Indian states to get Rs 1,000 crore allocation for improving agricultural production
– Rs 500 crore allocated for programme on crop diversification
– Green revolution in east India significant. Rice output increased in Assam, Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal; Rs 1,000 crore allocated for eastern states
– Rs 5,387 crore to be allocated for integrated watershed programme for farmers in 2013-14, an increase from Rs 3,050 crore in the current fiscal
– Rs 10,000 crore set aside for incremental cost for National Food Security Bill over and above food subsidy
– Four Infrastructure debt fund have been registered
– Tax free bonds issue to be allowed up to Rs 50,000 crore in 2013-14 strictly on capacity to raise funds from the market

– Rs 5,000 crore will be made available to NABARD to finance construction of godowns and warehouses
– First housing loan up to Rs 25 lakh would get additional deduction of interest of up to Rs 1 lakh in 2013-14
– Coal sector to get new PPP policy
– Two new major ports in West Bengal and AP
– Rajiv Gandhi Equity limit hiked
– FM announces India’s first women’s bank as a public sector bank by October
– Tax free bonds issue to be allowed up to Rs 50,000 crore in 2013-14 strictly on capacity to raise funds from the market
– Government has decided to constitute a regulatory authority for the road sector

– Many manufacturing projects stalled due to regulatory process

– A company investing Rs 100 crore or more in plant and machinery in April 1, 2013 to March 31, 2015 will be allowed 15 percent investment deduction allowance apart from depreciation

– To provide appropriate incentives for semiconductors industry including zero customs duty on plants and machineries

– Govt to construct power transmission system from Srinagar to Leh at the cost of Rs 1,840 crore, Rs 226 crore provided in current Budget

– DIPP and Japan’s JICA preparing plan for Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial corridor

– Oil and gas exploration policy will be reviewed and moved from profit sharing to revenue sharing

– Policy on exploration of shale gas on the anvil; natural gas pricing policy will be reviewed and uncertainty removed

– Coal imports during Apr-Dec 2012 crossed 100 million tonnes and expected to go up to 185 million tonnes in 2016-17