Nine pillars of the Budget

Nine pillars of the Budget

Governance, ease of doing business, fiscal discipline, tax reforms, Agriculture and farmers welfare , Rural sector with focus on employment , social sector with healthcare , Educational skills and job creation , Infrastructure and investment and financial sector reforms are the nine pillars on which the budget has been prepared.

Tax rebate: Relief of Rs 3000 per year to taxpayers with income below Rs.5 Lakh per year;1 cr tax payers to benefit

For tax payers earning below Rs 5 lakh, ceiling on tax rebate has been increased by Rs 3,000.

FM also provided relief to those living in rented houses by raising the HRA deduction from Rs 24,000 to Rs 60,000 under Section 88G.

Corporate tax

New firms from March 1 2016 to be taxed at 25% plus cess plus surcharge. No further exemptions for new companies if taxed at the 25% rate

Start-ups:

Start-ups to get 100% tax exemption for 3 years except MAT

Health insurance

Jaitley also announced a a new health protection scheme with health cover up to Rs 1 lakh per family .

LPG:

On LPG, Jaitley said 75 lakh middle class and lower middle class have given up subsidies

Govt to provide LPG connections to women of 1.5 cr BPL households at a cost of Rs 2, 000 crore in 2016-17

Customs and excise duty

Suitable changes to be made in customs and excise duty rates to boost Make In India

Here are the highlights of Budget 2016

Tax reforms: No changes have been made to existing income tax slabs

HRA allowance increased: Announcing tax reforms, FM Jaitley increased the HRA deduction amount from Rs 24,000 per annum to Rs 60,000 per annum

More than 2 crore tax payers will get relief of Rs 3,000 after Jaitley said that tax ceiling has been raised from 2000 to 5000 rupees for those earning less than Rs 5 lakh

Home buyers: First time home buyers get additional Rs 50,000 deduction for houses upto Rs 50 lakh, loan up to Rs 35 lakh

Tax on the rich

From now on a 15 % -surcharge on income tax for those with incomes exceeding 1 crore per annum. This surcharge was 12 percent until now.

Tax on cars:

Govt to levy 1 % infra cess on small cars, 2.5 % on diesel and 4 percent of SUVs for anti pollution

Housing

Service tax exempted for housing construction of houses less than 60 square metres

Cigarettes

Excise duty on tobacco increased by 10-15%, except for beedi

Organic farming

# Organic farming to get a big push : Govt will reorient its intervention in the farm and non farm sector to double the income of farmers by 2022. 5 lakh acres to be brought under organic farming over a three-year period

#Govt to provide LPG connections to women of 1.5 cr BPL households at a cost of Rs 2, 000 crore in 2016-17

# Rs 500 cr for Stand Up India to promote entrepreneurship for SC, ST, women