HIGHLIGHTS OF THE UNION BUDGET 2024-25

The Voice of Chandigarh: The Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2024-25 in Parliament today. The highlights of the budget are as follows:

Part-A

Budget Estimates 2024-25:

Total receipts other than borrowings: `32.07 lakh crore.
Total expenditure: `48.21 lakh crore.
Net tax receipt: `25.83 lakh crore.
Fiscal deficit: 4.9 per cent of GDP.
The focus of budget is on EMPLOYMENT, SKILLING, MSMEs, and the MIDDLE CLASS.

Package of PM’s five schemes for Employment and Skilling

Prime Minister’s Package of 5 Schemes and Initiatives for employment, skilling and other opportunities for 4.1 crore youth over a 5-year period.
1. Scheme A – First Timers: One-month salary of up to `15,000 to be provided in 3 installments to first-time employees, as registered in the EPFO.
2. Scheme B – Job Creation in manufacturing: Incentive to be provided at specified scale directly, both employee and employer, with respect to their EPFO contribution in the first 4 years of employment.
3. Scheme C – Support to employers: Government to reimburse up to `3,000 per month for 2 years towards EPFO contribution of employers, for each additional employee.
4. New centrally sponsored scheme for Skilling
  - 20 lakh youth to be skilled over a 5-year period.
  - 1,000 Industrial Training Institutes to be upgraded in hub and spoke arrangements.
5. New Scheme for Internship in 500 Top Companies to 1 crore youth in 5 years

Nine Budget Priorities in pursuit of ‘Viksit Bharat’:

Productivity and resilience in Agriculture
Employment & Skilling
Inclusive Human Resource Development and Social Justice
Manufacturing & Services
Urban Development
Energy Security
Infrastructure
Innovation, Research & Development and
Next Generation Reforms

Priority 1: Productivity and resilience in Agriculture

Allocation of `1.52 lakh crore for agriculture and allied sectors.
New 109 high-yielding and climate-resilient varieties of 32 field and horticulture crops to be released for cultivation by farmers.
1 crore farmers across the country to be initiated into natural farming, with certification and branding in next 2 years.
10,000 need-based bio-input resource centres to be established for natural farming.
Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for Agriculture to be implemented for coverage of farmers and their lands in 3 years.

Priority 2: Employment & Skilling

As part of the Prime Minister’s package, 3 schemes for ‘Employment Linked Incentive’ to be implemented – Scheme A – First Timers; Scheme B – Job Creation in manufacturing; Scheme C – Support to employers.
To facilitate higher participation of women in the workforce,
- working women hostels and crèches to be established with industrial collaboration
- women-specific skilling programmes to be organized
- market access for women SHG enterprises to be promoted

Skill Development

New centrally sponsored scheme for Skilling under Prime Minister’s Package for 20 lakh youth over a 5-year period.
Model Skill Loan Scheme to be revised to facilitate loans up to
`7.5 lakh.
Financial support for loans upto `10 lakh for higher education in domestic institutions to be provided to youth who have not been eligible for any benefit under government schemes and policies.

Priority 3: Inclusive Human Resource Development and Social Justice

Purvodaya

Industrial node at Gaya to be developed along the Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor.
Power projects, including new 2400 MW power plant at Pirpainti, to be taken up at a cost of `21,400 crore.

Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act

- Special financial support through multilateral development agencies of `15,000 crore in the current financial year.
- Industrial node at Kopparthy along Vishakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor and at Orvakal along Hyderabad-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor.

Women-led development

Total allocation of more than `3 lakh crore for schemes benefitting women and girls.

Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan

Socio-economic development of tribal families in tribal-majority villages and aspirational districts, covering 63,000 villages benefitting 5 crore tribal people.

Bank branches in North-Eastern Region

100 branches of India Post Payment Bank to be set up in the North East region.

Priority 4: Manufacturing & Services

Credit Guarantee Scheme for MSMEs in the Manufacturing Sector

A credit guarantee scheme without collateral or third-party guarantee in term loans to MSMEs for purchase of machinery and equipment.

Credit Support to MSMEs during Stress Period

New mechanism to facilitate continuation of bank credit to MSMEs during their stress period.

Mudra Loans

The limit of Mudra loans under ‘Tarun’ category to be enhanced to `20 lakh from `10 lakh for those who have successfully repaid previous loans.

Enhanced scope for mandatory onboarding in TReDS

Turnover threshold of buyers for mandatory onboarding on the TReDS platform to be reduced from `500 crore to `250 crore..

MSME Units for Food Irradiation, Quality & Safety Testing

Financial support to set up 50 multi-product food irradiation units in the MSME sector .

E-Commerce Export Hubs

E-Commerce Export Hubs to be set up under public-private-partnership (PPP) mode for MSMEs and traditional artisans to sell their products in international markets.

Critical Mineral Mission

Critical Mineral Mission to be set up for domestic production, recycling of critical minerals, and overseas acquisition of critical mineral assets.

Offshore mining of minerals

Auction of the first tranche of offshore blocks for mining, building on the exploration already carried out.

Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Applications

Development of DPI applications in the areas of credit, e-commerce, education, health, law and justice, logistics, MSME, services delivery, and urban governance.

Priority 5: Urban Development

Transit Oriented Development

Formulation of Transit Oriented Development plans and strategies to implement and finance 14 large cities above 30 lakh population.

Urban Housing

Investment of `10 lakh crore, including the central assistance of `2.2 lakh crore in next 5 years, under PM Awas Yojana Urban 2.0 proposed to address the , housing needs of 1 crore urban poor and middle-class families.

Street Markets

New scheme to support the development of 100 weekly ‘haats’ or street food hubs every year for the next 5 years in select cities.

Priority 6: Energy Security

Energy Transition

Policy document on ‘Energy Transition Pathways’ to balance the imperatives of employment, growth and environmental sustainability to be brought out.

Pumped Storage Policy

Policy for promoting pumped storage projects for electricity storage to be brought out.

Research and development of small and modular nuclear reactors

Government to partner with private sector for R&D of Bharat Small Modular Reactor and newer technologies for nuclear energy, and to set up Bharat Small Reactors.

Advanced Ultra Super Critical Thermal Power Plants

Joint venture proposed between NTPC and BHEL to set up a full scale 800 MW commercial plant using Advanced Ultra Super Critical (AUSC) technology.

Roadmap for ‘hard to abate’ industries

Appropriate regulations for transition of ‘hard to abate’ industries from the current ‘Perform, Achieve and Trade’ mode to ‘Indian Carbon Market’ mode to be put in place.

Priority 7: Infrastructure

Infrastructure investment by Central Government

`11,11,111 crore (3.4 % of GDP) to be provided for capital expenditure.

Infrastructure investment by state governments

Provision of `1.5 lakh crore for long-term interest free loans to support states in infrastructure investment.

Pradhan Mantri Gram SadakYojana (PMGSY)

Launch of phase IV of PMGSY to provide all-weather connectivity to 25,000 rural habitations.

Irrigation and Flood Mitigation

Financial support of `11,500 crore to projects such as the Kosi-Mechi intra-state link and other schemes in Bihar.
Government to provide assistance to Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim for floods, landslides and other related projects.

Tourism

Comprehensive development of Vishnupad Temple Corridor, Mahabodhi Temple Corridor and Rajgir.
Assistance for development of temples, monuments, craftsmanship, wildlife sanctuaries, natural landscapes and pristine beaches of Odisha.

Priority 8: Innovation, Research & Development

Anusandhan National Research Fund for basic research and prototype development to be operationalised.
Financing pool of `1 lakh crore for spurring private sector-driven research and innovation at commercial scale.

Space Economy

Venture capital fund of `1,000 crore to be set up for expanding the space economy by 5 times in the next 10 years.

Priority 9: Next Generation Reforms

Rural Land Related Actions

Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) or Bhu-Aadhaar for all lands
Digitization of cadastral maps
Survey of map sub-divisions as per current ownership
Establishment of land registry
Linking to the farmers registry

Urban Land Related Actions

Land records in urban areas to be digitized with GIS mapping.

Services to Labour

Integration of e-shram portal with other portals to facilitate such one-stop solution.
Open architecture databases for the rapidly changing labour market, skill requirements and available job roles.
Mechanism to connect job-aspirants with potential employers and skill providers.

NPS Vatsalya

NPS-Vatsalya as a plan for contribution by parents and guardians for minors.

PART B

Indirect Taxes

GST

Buoyed by GST’s success, tax structure to be simplified and rationalised to expand GST to remaining sectors.

Sector specific customs duty proposals

Medicines and Medical Equipment

Three cancer drugs namely TrastuzumabDeruxtecan, Osimertinib and Durvalumab fully exempted from custom duty.
Changes in Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on x-ray tubes & flat panel detectors for use in medical x-ray machines under the Phased Manufacturing Programme.

Mobile Phone and Related Parts

BCD on mobile phone, mobile Printed Circuit Board Assembly (PCBA) and mobile charger reduced to 15 per cent.

Precious Metals

Customs duties on gold and silver reduced to 6 per cent and that on platinum to 6.4 per cent.

Other Metals

BCD removed on ferro nickel and blister copper.
BCD removed on ferrous scrap and nickel cathode.
Concessional BCD of 2.5 per cent on copper scrap.

Electronics

BCD removed, subject to conditions, on oxygen free copper for manufacture of resistors.

Chemicals and Petrochemicals

BCD on ammonium nitrate increased from 7.5 to 10 per cent.

Plastics

BCD on PVC flex banners increased from 10 to 25 per cent.

Telecommunication Equipment

BCD increased from 10 to 15 per cent on PCBA of specified telecom equipment.

Trade facilitation

For promotion of domestic aviation and boat & ship MRO, time period for export of goods imported for repairs extended from six months to one year.
Time-limit for re-import of goods for repairs under warranty extended from three to five years.

Critical Minerals

25 critical minerals fully exempted from customs duties.
BCD on two critical minerals reduced.

Solar Energy

Capital goods for use in manufacture of solar cells and panels exempted from customs duty.

Marine products

BCD on certain broodstock, polychaete worms, shrimp and fish feed reduced to 5 per cent.
Various inputs for manufacture of shrimp and fish feed exempted from customs duty.

Leather and Textile

BCD reduced on real down filling material from duck or goose.
BCD reduced, subject to conditions, on methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) for manufacture of spandex yarn from 7.5 to 5 per cent.

Direct Taxes

Efforts to simplify taxes, improve tax payer services, provide tax certainty and reduce litigation to be continued.
Enhance revenues for funding development and welfare schemes of government.
58 per cent of corporate tax from simplified tax regime in FY23, more than two-thirds taxpayers availed simplified tax regime for personal income tax in FY 24.

Simplification for Charities and of TDS

Two tax exemption regimes for charities to be merged into one.
5 per cent TDS rate on many payments merged into 2 per cent TDS rate.
20 per cent TDS rate on repurchase of units by mutual funds or UTI withdrawn.
TDS rate on e-commerce operators reduced from one to 0.1 per cent.
Delay for payment of TDS up to due date of filing statement decriminalized.

Simplification of Reassessment

Assessment can be reopened beyond three years upto five years from the end of Assessment Year only if the escaped income is ₹ 50 lakh or more.
In search cases, time limit reduced from ten to six years before the year of search.

Simplification and Rationalisation of Capital Gains

Short term gains on certain financial assets to attract a tax rate of 20 per cent.
Long term gains on all financial and non-financial assets to attract a tax rate of 12.5 per cent.
Exemption limit of capital gains on certain financial assets increased to ₹ 1.25 lakh per year.

Tax Payer Services

All remaining services of Customs and Income Tax including rectification and order giving effect to appellate orders to be digitalized over the next two years.

Litigation and Appeals

‘Vivad Se Vishwas Scheme, 2024’ for resolution of income tax disputes pending in appeal.
Monetary limits for filing direct taxes, excise and service tax related appeals in Tax Tribunals, High Courts and Supreme Court increased to ₹60 lakh, ₹2 crore and ₹5 crore respectively.
Safe harbour rules expanded to reduce litigation and provide certainty in international taxation.

Employment and Investment

Angel tax for all classes of investors abolished to bolster start-up eco-system,.
Simpler tax regime for foreign shipping companies operating domestic cruises to promote cruise tourism in India.
Safe harbour rates for foreign mining companies selling raw diamonds in the country.
Corporate tax rate on foreign companies reduced from 40 to 35 per cent.

Deepening tax base

Security Transactions Tax on futures and options of securities increased to 0.02 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively.
Income received on buy back of shares in the hands of recipient to be taxed.

Social Security Benefits.

Deduction of expenditure by employers towards NPS to be increased from 10 to 14 per cent of the employee’s salary.
Non-reporting of small movable foreign assets up to ₹20 lakh de-penalised.

Other major proposal in Finance Bill

Equalization levy of 2 per cent withdrawn.

Changes in Personal Income Tax under new tax regime

Standard deduction for salaried employees increased from ₹50,000 to ₹75,000.
Deduction on family pension for pensioners enhanced from ₹15,000/- to ₹25,000/-
Revised tax rate structure:

0-3 lakh rupees	Nil
3-7 lakh rupees	5 per cent
7-10 lakh rupees	10 per cent
10-12 lakh rupees	15 per cent
12-15 lakh rupees	20 per cent
Above 15 lakh rupees	30 per cent