Union Budget 2013-14 Tabled, No change in IT Slabs

The Union Finance minister P. Chdambaram has presented the Union Budget for the fiscal 2013-14 on Thursday in Lok Sabha.

The Budget was one of the populist budgets, as no burden on the income tax payers - no changes in the income tax slabs.


The Minister has given tax credit of 2000 rupees for the income tax payers between 2 lack rupees to 5 lakh rupees.


Women safety has been given prominence in the union budget 2013-14, Rs. 1000 crore for Nirbhaya Fund.


Not only that the finance minister has also suggested for First Women Bank in India for women.

For investors the SEBI to ease norms to attract from FIIs.


Here are the Budget Highlights:

Budget Allocations:

In the Union budget the planned expenditure is pegged at Rs. 555,322 crore which is around 30 per cent more than the budget estimation of last year.

Taxes:

There is no change in the income tax slabs, but tax credit of Rs2000 for the tax-payers under the slab of Rs.2 lac to Rs.5 lac.

Imposes 5-10% surcharge on local companies income above Rs 10 crore

No changes in Education Cess,

Cigarette to cost more as the excise tax has been increased,




FISCAL DEFICIT
FM proposed that India need to rationalize expenditures like coal, oil or gold imports to control fiscal deficit. The fiscal deficit has reduced a value of 4.8% which was 5.2% in last fiscal year.



Education:
Giving priority to the education sector, which has been neglected, the Finance Minister has increased the budget allocation to Rs. 65, 867 crores, which is higher 17 per cent from the last year’s budget allocation. Rs. 13215 crore has been provisioned for mid day meal scheme, one of the flagship schemes of the UPA government.


Agriculture:
The agriculture sector grew by around 3 per cent in the last fiscal year; the finance minister has allocated Rs. 27,049 crore to the Agriculture Ministry.

Rs. 500 crore For crop diversification and Farm Credit Target has been set at Rs. 7 lakh crore for the fiscal year 2013-14;

Defense:

In the budget, the finance minister increased the Defence allocation to Rs. 2.03 lakh crore, Rs. 6,275 crore has been granted to to ministry of science and technology and Rs. 5,880 crore to Department of Atomic Energy.

Women Empowerment:

Acting tough on the women empowerment, the finance minister declared Rs. 1000-crore Nirbhaya Fund for this cause. Also aimed to set up India’s First Womens Bank and approved Rs. 1000 crore as Initial capitalization for Women Bank.

Health and Family Welfare:
In the budget, Rs. 37,330 crore have been allocated for Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

Stock Markets/Investors:
Due the slowdown the stock markets were tumbling often, the interest of stock markets to be protected. The finance minister announced that Security Exchange Board of India (SEBI) would simply its norm to attract Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) into Indian economy market. This will help to boost the investment inflow into the country strengthening it. FIIs can trade in Forex derivaties, 10% stake threshold to be seen as fdi, 15% allowance for investment above Rs. 100 cr, investment allowance of 15% of investment, to approve Rs. 50k crore in tax free bonds.

Urban Housing :
In the budget, Rs. 2000 crore has been allocated for Urban Housing Fund, NHB will set up an Urban Housing Fund.

Infrastructure:
To Set Up Regulator For Road Projects and Infra Debt Funds To Be Encouraged

Allocations:
Additional Rs. 10,000 Cr For Food Bill
Mgnrega Allocation Hiked To Rs. 33,000 Cr
Rs. 15,184 Cr For Indira Awas Scheme
Rs. 80,200 Cr For Rural Development

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Odisha budget for 2013-14: Highlights

Reading the Odisha budget speech, the finance minister Prasanna Acharya presented at revenue surplus budget for 2013-14 contains total outlay of Rs 60303.09 crore. Which is 20 per higher than the previous budget presented by the former finance minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadai of Rs. 52,030.70 crore for the year 2012-13.

According to the government data, the state government projected a revenue surplus of Rs 1904.61 crore that weighs 0.65 per cent of gross state domestic product (GSDP).

Prominence has been given to agriculture sectors, as the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told media that “In the history of Odisha Budget, it is for the first time that we have placed a separate agriculture budget. In this budget, we have given emphasis on agriculture & allied sectors.”

Odisha Budget Highlights

• The total budget outlay has increased from ­Rs. 52030.70 crore in 2012-13 to ­ ­Rs. 60303.09 crore in 2013-14. The overall increase in budget size is about 16%.
• The outlay for the State’s Annual Plan 2013-14 has been fixed at ­ ­Rs. 21467 crore for the financial year 2013-14, which includes an outlay of ­ ­Rs. 19367 crore for the Government sector and ­2100 crore for the Public Sector Undertakings. 
• The size of Non-Plan expenditure is contained with a growth rate of only 10.5% to create more fiscal space for plan investment. 
• Thus, there is 27.4% increase in State Plan provision in Government sector from ­ ­Rs. 15200 crore in 2012-13 to ­ ­Rs. 19367 crore in 2013-14. 
• The Plan: Non Plan ratio has gone up from about 27% in 2006-07 to about 59% in 2013-14. This is the highest ever ratio achieved by Odisha. 
• Total Capital Outlay has been increased to ­ ­Rs. 7840.13 crore. Besides, ­3496.45crore has been provided as grants for creation of capital assets. 
• The Budgeted Expenditure for 2013-14 will be financed through estimated revenue receipts of ­Rs. ­51298.98 crore, recovery of loans and advances of ­ ­Rs. 240.29 crore and borrowing and other receipts of ­Rs. ­8763.82 crore. 
• Revenue surplus of ­ ­Rs. 1904.61 crore has been projected in the Budget Estimatesfor 2013-14 which is 0.65% of GSDP. 
• The Fiscal Deficit is projected at ­ ­Rs. 5945.13 crore which is 2.03% of GSDP. 
• The yearend debt stock for the financial year 2013-14 is estimated at ­Rs. ­45561.12 crore which is 15.58% of GSDP. 
• The interest payment to revenue receipt ratio is estimated at 9.76% for 2013-14. 
• Thus, the Annual Budget for 2013-14 is fully compliant to provisions of FRBM Act.

Agriculture Budget Highlights

• For the first time, the State has prepared a separate Agriculture Budget for the development of the agriculture and allied sectors as well as welfare of the farming community.
• Odisha is the second State in the country after Karnataka to present a separate budget for agriculture and allied sectors. 
• The allocation for agriculture and allied sectors in this Budget has been substantially enhanced from ­ ­Rs. 5627.87 crore in 2012-13 to ­Rs. ­7161.84 crore in 2013-14. 
• The step up in provision in the sector is more than 27%.

Natural Calamity

• Provision of ­Rs. ­453.31 Crore and ­ ­Rs. 200.00 Crore have been made towards State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) respectively in the BE for 2013-14 under Non-plan.

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