Union Budget 2015

Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley has said that the Indian Economy has turned around dramatically in the last nine months with the real GDP growth expected to accelerate to 7.4% making  India the fastest growing large economy in the world.

 Presenting the General Budget for the year 2015-16 in Lok Sabha, he said macro-economic stability has been restored and conditions have been created for

• Sustainable poverty elimination,
• Job creation and
• Durable double digit economic growth.

Shri Jaitley specifically talked about three key achievements of the Government

• the Jan Dhan Yojana which broughT over 12.5 crore families into financial mainstream in a short period of 100 days,
• transparent coal block auctions to augment resources of the states
•  ‘Swachh Bharat’ which has become a movement to regenerate India. 

The Finance Minister counted five major challenges faced by the Indian economy which are

• agricultural income under stress,
• weak private sector investment in infrastructure,
• decline in manufacturing,
• resource crunch in view of higher devolution in taxes to states and
• maintaining fiscal discipline.

Shri Jaitley said that Goods and Services Tax (GST) introduced in the last Session will play a transformative role in the way our economy functions. The broad things adopted in finalizing the tax proposals include:- 

• Measures to curb black money
• Job creation through revival of growth and investment and promotion of domestic manufacturing
• and ‘Make in India’
• Minimum government and maximum governance to improve the ease of doing business
•  Benefits to middle class taxpayers
• Improving the quality of life and public health through Swachch Bharat initiatives and
• Stand alone proposals to maximize benefits to the economy.

Main Keys in Action

• Development Should Be As Green As Possible .
• Facilities At Cultural World Heritage Sites Are To Be Restored.
• 8 Centrally Sponsored Schemes Delinked From Support Of The Centre 24 Schemes To Be Run With The Changed Sharing Pattern While 31 Schemes Will Get Full Support Of The Centre.
• Government To Launch A National Skills Mission Soon Aiims To Be Launched In J&K, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh And Assam In 2015-16 Student Financial Aid Authority To Administer Scholarships And Educational Loan Schemes For Poor Students.
• Education Sector Allocated Rs. 68968 Cr While Rural Development Gets Rs 79526 Cr In The Year 2015-16 Nirbhaya Fund Gets Another Rs 1000 Cr In 2015-16.
• No Change In The Rate Of Personal Income-Tax And The Rate Of Tax For Companies On Income In Financial Year 2015-16.Surcharge @12% Levied On Individuals, Hufs, Aops, Bois, Artificial Juridical Persons, Firms, Cooperative Societies And Local Authorities Having Income Exceeding Rs 1 Crore.
• Benefits To Middle Class Tax Payers In The Budget 2015-16 Payments To The Beneficiaries Including Interest Payment On Deposit In Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme To Be Fully Exempt.
• Eligible Donations To Swachh Bharat Kosh And Clean Ganga Fund  To Be 100% Deductible.
• Five New Ultra-Mega Power Projects To Be Set Up .Second Unit Of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Station Will Be Commissioned In 2015-16.