Making a big populist push in its final budget before elections, the Narendra Modi-government Friday exempted people with an earning of up to Rs 5 lakh from payment of income tax, announced an annual cash dole-out of Rs 6,000 to small farmers and provided a monthly pension of Rs 3,000 to workers in the unorganised sector.

Following are the key highlights of the interim Budget 2019-20 presented by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal in the Lok Sabha on February 1, 2019.

 

 

 

 

 

  • Income up to Rs 5 lakh exempted from income tax
  • Standard deduction raised to Rs 50,000 from Rs 40,000
  • Direct tax proposals to provide Rs 23,000 cr relief to 3 crore taxpayers
  • Persons with gross income up to Rs 6.50 lakh not required to pay any income tax if they make investments in provident funds, specified savings and insurance.
  • 12 crore small, marginal farmers to be provided assured yearly income of Rs 6,000 under PM-KISAN scheme
  • TDS threshold raised to Rs 40,000 from Rs 10,000 on interest earned on bank/post office deposits
  • Tax exempted on notional rent on a second self-occupied house
  • TDS threshold for deduction of tax on rent to be increased to Rs 2.40 lakh from Rs 1.80 lakh
  • Tax benefits for affordable housing extended till March 31, 2020
  • Tax exemption period on notional rent on unsold inventories extended to two years from one year
  • Allocated Rs 20,000 crore in 2018-19, Rs 75,000 crore for FY2019-20 for PM-KISAN scheme
  • Interest subvention of 2% during disaster to be provided to farmers for the entire period of reschedulement of loan
  • 2% interest subvention to farmers for animal husbandry and fisheries activities; additional 3% in case of timely repayment
  • Rs 3,000/month pension for 10 cr unorganised sector workers with contribution of Rs 100/55 per month under PM Shram Yogi Maandhan scheme
  • Fiscal deficit pegged at 3.4% of GDP for 2019-20; target of 3% of fiscal deficit to be achieved by 2020-21
  • Current Account Deficit pegged at 2.5% of GDP for FY20
  • Total expenditure to rise by 13 pc to Rs 27.84 lakh cr in FY20
  • National Education Mission allocation increased by about 20% to Rs 38,572 cr
  • Allocation for Integrated Child Development Scheme increased by over 18% to Rs 27,584 cr
  • Disinvestment target of Rs 80,000 cr in 2018-19 likely to be met; Target for FY20 set at Rs 90,000 cr
  • 25% additional seats in educational institutions to meet the 10% reservation for the poor
  • Defence budget to cross Rs 3,00,000 cr for the first time
  • Allocation for North East increased by 21% to Rs 58,166 cr in FY20
  • Railways to get capital support of Rs 64,587 cr in FY20
  • Indian filmmakers to get access to single window clearance for ease of shooting films; regulatory norms to rely more on self-declaration
  • 2% interest subsidy for MSMEs on an incremental loan of Rs 1 crore for GST-registered entities
  • At least 3% of the 25% sourcing for the government undertakings to be from women-owned SMEs
  • One lakh villages to be transformed into digital ones in 5 years
  • New portal to support national programme on Artificial Intelligence
  • Reforms in stamp duty; amendments to ensure streamlined system for levy of stamp duties to be imposed and collected at one place
  • A separate Department of Fisheries to be created for welfare of 1.5 crore fisherman
  • 22nd AIIMS to be setup in Haryana
  • Rs 60,000 crore allocation for MGNREGA in 2019-20
  • India poised to become USD 5 trillion economy in next 5 years; aspires to become USD 10 trillion in the subsequent 8 years

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