Some Important Highlights of the Indian Union Budget for the Year 2011-12

The following are some of the important Highlights of the Indian Union Budget for the year 2011-12, presented by the Indian Union Finance Minister Mr.Pranab Mukherjee on 28th February 2011 in the Parliament of India:-

Income Tax:-

• Income Tax Exemption Limit has been raised from Rs 1.60 lakhs to Rs 1.80 lakhs.

• Income Tax Exemption Limit for Senior Citizens has been increased from Rs 2.4 lakhs to Rs 2.5 lakhs and age bracket reduced from 65 years to 60 years.

• Some categories of salaried people exempted from filing I-T returns.

• Surcharge on companies to come down from 7.5 per cent to 5 per cent

Customs Duty/Excise:-

• Customs duty on mobile phones has been reduced,
• Excise duty on hybrid car kits will be reduced,
• 10 per cent excise duty has been imposed on branded garments
• Basic customs duty on silk decreased from 30 per cent to 5 per cent.
• Excise on fossil fuels has been decreased from 7.5 per cent to 5 per cent.

Service Tax:-

• Rate of Service tax will remain at -10%.

• Service tax on Air-Conditioned Restaurants has been raised

Funds Provisions/Allocations/Grants:-

• Rs 300 crores will be provided as assistance to States for Modernising and Stamps & Registration administration.
• Allocation for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan increased by 40 per cent to Rs 21,000 crore.
• Under integrated action plan for Naxal-affected areas, 60 districts to get development grant of Rs 25 Crores to 30 Crores.
• Rs 200 Crores for development of IIT Kharagpur.
• Rs 8,000 Crores has been allocated for North – East Development and Rs 28,000 crored for Jammu & Kashmir.
• International award of Rs 1 Crore has been instituted for promoting universal brotherhood in memory of “Rabindranath Tagore”

• Rs 200 Crores for cleaning up lakes and rivers other than the Ganga.
• Rs 58,000 Crores will be allocated for ‘Bharat Nirman Projects’
• Rs.164,415 Crores will be allocated for ‘Defence’ and even more will be allocated if required

Social Welfare/Rural Development:-

• Old age pension to persons of over the age of 80 years has been raised from Rs 200 to Rs 500.
• Rs 9 lakh compensation to be given to men of Defence and Central paramilitary forces for permanent disability and discharged from service.
• Aanganwadi workers’ pay has been raise from Rs 1500 to Rs 3000 per month.
• Expenditure on social projects increased by 17 per cent.
• Allocation to Education- Sector has been increased to Rs 57,057 Crores.
• It has been proposes to raise Housing Loan Limit from Rs 20 lakhs to Rs 25 lakhs from Priority Sector Lending.
• Low-Cost Housing Loans of Rs 15 lakhs will get 1% interest sop.
• Rural housing funds allocation to be raised from Rs 2,000 Crores to Rs 3,000 Crores.
• 24% Increase in Educational Outlay- And Rs.21,000 Crores will be allocated for “Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan”.
• Rs.500 Crores- more will be allocated for National Skill Development Fund.
• Rs 100 Crorers will be provided for Microfinance Companies.
• Rs.54 Crores, each will be allocated for Aligarh Muslim University Centres at Murshidabad and Mallapuram.

Agriculture & Food:-

• Food security bill to be introduced this year.
• Farmers’ credit flow will be Rs 4.75 Lakhs- Crores.
• Measures will be taken to increase the Storage Capacity of Food Grains by 150 lakhs Metric-Tonnes.
• 15 new Mega Food -Parks will be created for better food distribution.
• Banks will be asked to step up ‘ Farm-Ccredit and help ‘marginal farmers’.
• Target for credit flow to farmers has been increased from Rs 375000 Crores to Rs 475000 Crores.

Textiles Industry:-

• Rs 3,000 Crores will be provided to “NABARD” for helping 15,000 cooperatives and 3 lakhs ‘handloom- weavers’.

Targets:-
In the current year Growth in the following sectors are expected to be achieved:-

• overall economy at 8.6 %,
• agriculture at 5.4 %, industry at 8.1 % and
• services 9.3%.