Budget Highlights: Key points from Budget 2012 as it unrolls live

Published on Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 13:28 | Source : Moneycontrol.com Updated at Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 13:44 By BankBazaar New Tax Slabs: The Finance minister has increased the tax slabs and given relief to the common man. Especially for the people in the below 10 lakh slab. Greater news for those earning between 8 Lakh and 10 lakh, they move from a slab of 30% to a new slab of 20%. The minimum tax slab has been increased from Rs.180000/- to Rs. 200000/-. For people whose income level is between Rs. 200000 to Rs. 500000, the new tax rate is 10%, for income from Rs. 500000 to Rs. 1000000 the tax rate will be 20% and for income of Rs.1000000 and above the tax rate is 30 %. The homeowners of apartments can enjoy tax exemption of Rs. 5000/. Spent on maintenance. This exemption level has been increased from Rs.3000/- to Rs. 5000/-. The Capital Gains Tax will not be applicable for people who use the amount generated from the sale of their houses as an equity investment in small and medium businesses. Exemption permitted upto Rs 5000/- for expenses incurred on Preventive Health Check up Exemption of Rs 10000 on interest earned from Savings Bank depsosits for people with income upto Rs 5 Lakh Invest in Equity and get tax exemption Rajiv Gandhi Equity Saving Scheme will get income tax deduction. This will be applicable only to the New Retail Investors investing directly into equity up to Rs. 50000/, with a lock in period of three years. The annual income of the investor should be less than Rs. 1000000/-. Changes have been made in the IPO guidelines in order to ensure the participation from small towns.

Main points for Business- Service tax up from 10% to 12 % Viability Gap Funding- The FM has proposed to extend the Viability Gap Funding to improve Capital Infusion in irrigation, dams, Fertilizer Sector. Fertilizer, oil and Gas, LNG, Pipelines, fixed Network for telecom etc will help improve these sectors.

Flight Charges to fall and services to go up- ECB for the welfare of the Airline Industry for a year is limited to be 1 billion USD and allow 49% from foreign airlines. This will make travel tickets cheaper and passengers can expect better services.

Agriculture: Agriculture will continue to be the priority Sector. The FM has announced 18% increase in outlay for agriculture. The Agri credit is up by one lakh to Rs.5.75 crore. The food prices are expected to ease over a long term. Small Businesses likely to receive benefits: Entrepreneurs, especially the SMB sectors who have started SBM exchanges in Mumbai are to be benefited. The FM has forced the government to source up to 20% of its purchases from micro and small industries. The small business units are expected to be benefited out of this. More number of Super malls to come up: The FM has said that multi-brand retail will be supported so we can expect more number of Malls and Super Malls in the country. Power, Housing, and Road Construction: External Commercial Borrowing to be allowed for Power, Housing, and Road Constructions. This will improve the rationalization of these Industries. Budget Estimates for Plan Expenditure and Non - Plan Expenditure. The Budget Estimates for Plan Expenditure will be 969900 instead of 816182 and Non - Plan Expenditure will be 521025 instead of 441547.