Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget 2018-19 in Parliament on 1st Feb 2018 which was Thursday. This budget is Jaitley’s fifth, and the last full budget of present NDA government before India goes to polls in General Elections which is to take place in 2019. This is the first budget after big economic reforms such as (GST), dynamic fuel pricing, and mega PSU bank recapitalisation.

As it was last Budget of the present Modi government people had many expectations from them. Let’s have a recap of the Union Budget 2018-19 and know how much they come up on people’s expectation.

Quick Highlights of Union Budget 2018

  • No change in the Personal Income Tax slab.
  • Salaried citizens to get a standard deduction of INR 40,000 in lieu for transport allowance and “other medical costs”.
  • Senior citizens will now be able to claim tax benefit of a deduction of INR 50,000 for any health insurance.
  • 4 crore homes to get free power connections under Saubhagya Yojana.
  • The deduction has been increased up to INR 1,00,000 for critical illnesses.
  • For new employees, government to contribute 12% of their wages in Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) in all sectors for 3 years.
  • Agriculture credit disbursal target expanded to INR 11 lakh crore from INR 10 lakh crore in the Union Budget 2017-18.
  • 2 crore more toilets will be built under Swacch Bharat Abhiyan.
  • INR 2,000 crore fund has been provided in 2018 Union Budget for the development and upgradation of Agri markets within country.
  • Gross budgetary support of Railways increases to INR 3 lakh crore in Union Budget 2018 from INR 2.73 crore which was in Union Budget 2017-2018.
  • 600 major Railway Stations to undergo redevelopment.
  • Allocation on Digital India doubled to INR 373 crore.
  • 2 Defence industrial production corridors to be set up.
  • 100% tax deduction will be provided to companies with revenue of INR 100 crore which are registered as farmer products.
  • Corporate taxes cut down to 25% for the companies with turnover up to INR 250 crore.
  • Tax for short term capital gain continued to be same.
  • A Law will be introduced to fix MPs’ salary every 5 years indexed to inflation.
  • Health and education cess increased to 4% from 3%.
  • INR 80,000 crore is the target, set for dis-investment this year.
  • Government to launch a new flagship National Health Protection Scheme which will cover over 10 crore poor families providing coverage up to INR 5 lakh per family every year in case of hospitalisation.
  • Government to implement a minimum support price which will be for all crops. The price is hiked to 1.5 times of production costs.
  • 8 crore free gas connection under Ujjwala Yojana for poor women.
  • INR 7,148 crore for textiles sector in 2018-19.
  • 2 major initiatives to be done under ‘Ayushman Bharat’ programme.
  • INR 3 lakh crore is the new target to lend under MUDRA.
  • Government to form a ‘Gold Policy’ to develop gold as an asset class.
  • Government to introduce a scheme to assign Unique ID for the Enterprises.
  • The Q2 of 2017-18 saw a GDP growth of 6.3% which is on track for GDP growth of 8%.