Union Budget 2019

On Friday 5th July 2019 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2019.

The Key Highlights of Budget 2019 are:

“Direct Income Tax”

  1. For home loan taken on self-occupied house property till 31/3/2020, the interest deduction on housing loans increased from 1.5 lakhs, home of ₹45 lakh rupees would be eligible for it.
  2. Now Income tax returns can be filed using Aadhaar number!! In budget 2019 there has been an Interchangeability of PAN and Aadhaar for ease and convenience of taxpayers.
  3. Pre-filled tax returns will be made available to the taxpayers.
  4. To control cash transactions, 2% of TDS will be charged on the withdrawal of more than ₹1 Crores per annum from one bank account.
  5. There is a surcharge from 15% to 18% on the taxable income between ₹2 Crores and ₹5 Crores in case of an individual taxpayer.
  6. The surcharge for persons with taxable income between ₹5 Crores to ₹10 Crores has increased from 15% to 22%.
  7. Proposal to relieve the benefits of the transaction tax of securities.
  8. Corporate tax of 25% which is applicable to companies with an annual turnover of more than ₹250 Crores, will be applicable with an annual turnover of ₹400 Crores.
  9. 35AD extended to Li-on battery, semi-conductor, laptop, fabrication and photo volt.
  10. More focus on skill sets required by the youth which will encourage them to apply for job opportunities abroad like language skills and AI (artificial intelligence).
  11. To encourage startups in the country, a show will be started on DD Nation providing all the information & ideas regarding startups, this program will be done by startups themselves.
Union Budget 2019

“Naari Tu Narayani”

  1. To encourage women entrepreneurship.
  2. Women self-help groups interest subvention program all over the district.
  3. ₹50,000 overdraft to every woman self-help group (SHG) member who is having a Jan Dhan Bank Account.
  4. Under the Mudra Scheme, one woman in every SHG is eligible for a loan of ₹1 lakh.
  5. Government is considering to go below 51% of ownership for the non-financial public sector undertakings, but it will be to an appropriate level and depending on the case as well.
  6. ₹70,000 Crores to be provided to the Public Sector Banks to boost capital & improve credit.
  7. The pension benefits extended to above 3 crore retail traders & shopkeepers whose annum turnover is less than 1.5 crore under a new scheme namely Pradhan Mantri Karam Yogi Man Dhan Scheme. Enrolment to the scheme is simple which will require Aadhaar and bank account and the rest will on self-declaration.

“GST”

  1. GST Council to lower the GST rates on electronic vehicles from 12% to 5%.
  2. ₹1.5 Lakh income tax deduction on the interest paid towards the purchase of an electronic vehicle.
  3. To promote e-mobility custom duty on certain parts of the electronic vehicles has been exempted.
  4. ₹350 crore allotted for the GST- registered MSMEs for fresh or any incremental loan on 2% interest subvention.
  5. Taxpayers with less than ₹5 crore of yearly turnover now need to file only quarterly returns.
  6. Implementation of a fully automated GST refund module will be done. Now, multiple tax ledgers will be replaced by one.
  7. To achieve the goal of Make in India custom duty on certain items will be increased.
  8. 5% custom duty on imported books.
  9. Proposal to extend Swachh Bharat Mission to every village to undertake solid waste management.

‘Study in India’

  1. The minister says-” India has the potential to become the hub for higher education. Therefore I propose to start a program ‘Study in India’ that will focus to bring foreign students to study in our higher institutions”.
  2. By 2022, every rural family will have electricity and clean cooking facility, the minister focus on’ it will be apart from those who will be unwilling to take’.
  3. In the second phase of PMAY-Gramin, 1.95 Crore houses to be provided to the eligible beneficiary.
  4. 10,000 new farmer organization to be formed to encourage farmer over the next 5 years.
  5. Electronic fundraising platform, a social stock exchange, will be set up to list social enterprises and voluntary organization who are working for social welfare objectives.
  6. For NRIs Aadhaar Card to be issued with passport after their arrival in India without waiting for 180 days which was mandatory earlier.