2. India Union Budget 2009 – 2010 - HIGHLIGHTS

3. Pranab Kumar Mukherjee The Current Finance Minister of India. Finance Minister since Jan 24, 2009 Born on December 11, 1935 A prominent State Leader of Indian National Congress and The leader of the house in the Lok Sabha

4. Recently, Mr.Mukherjee announced Union Budget 2009-10 in Lok Sabha. 06 July 2009

5. The Budget Highlights  India targets return to 9% growth  12 million new jobs each year and reduce poverty by half by 2014.  Will create close to 12 million jobs  Allocation of railways increased to 15,800cr

6. The Budget Highlights  Fiscal stimulus of 1,86,000cr provided  LNG infrastructure in the country being expanded  Rs 3937cr for improvement of urban poor  Funding to NHAI stepped up by 23%

7. The Budget Highlights  Allocation for Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission raised by 87% to Rs.12,887 crore  Tax department to work on early introduction of Saral 2 forms  Stimulus for print media extended from June 13 to Dec 31  Rs.1,000 crore to accelerate irrigation projects

8. The Budget Highlights  Agriculture development fund increased from Rs.2.87 lakh crore to Rs.3.25 lakh crore  Market development assistance scheme for exporters increased by 148 percent to Rs.124 crore  Pre-shipment interest subvention set at 2% for textile exporters  Will make sufficient funds for infrastructure development

9. The Budget Highlights  Allocation for urban poor schemes to be raised to Rs.39,730 crore in 2009-10  Rs 2,000 crore for rural housing fund under National Housing Bank  For Indira Awas Yojana, allocation to be increased by 63 per cent in 2009-10 to touch Rs 8,800 crore.  Allocation for flagship Bharat Nirman progamme is being raised by 45 per cent.

10. The Budget Highlights  NREGA coverage increased from 3.39 crore households in 2007-08 to 4.74 crore households in 2008-09  Rashtriya Mahila Kosh corpus to be raised from Rs 100 crore to Rs 500 crore  National Mission for Female Literacy with emphasis on minorities, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to be launched  50% of all rural women to be brought into self- help group programmes

11. The Budget Highlights  Full interest subsidy for students taking courses in approved institutions. Five lakh students to benefit.  Modernisation of national employment exchanges to be carried out.  Action initiated to provide social security to unorganised sector workers.  First Unique Identification Card to citizens to roll out in 12-18 months. Pranab proposes provision of Rs 120 crore for the project.

12. The Budget Highlights  Under National Action Plan on climate change, eight national missions are being launched. For one of the missions, National Ganga Project, Government proposes to increase allocation to Rs 562 crore.  Allocation for National Rural Health Mission to be raised by Rs 257 crore over and above the outlay in the interim budget.  Commonwealth allocation hiked to Rs 16,300 cr  Rs 2,113 cr for IITs and NITs

13. The Budget Highlights  Pension of non-commissioned officers to be hiked  Commonwealth allocation hiked to Rs 16,300 cr  Allocation of Rs 50 cr to Chandigrah University  Rs 500 crore for rehabilitation of internally displaced Tamils in Sri Lanka

14. The Budget Highlights  Rs 25 cr each for AMU campuses in Murshidabad and Mallapuram  Rs 2,113 cr for IITs and NITs  Pension of non-commissioned officers to be hiked  Rs 1,000 cr for Aila rehabilitation programme to West Bengal

15. The Budget Highlights  One rank, one pension scheme for ex- servicemen approved  Goods and Services Tax to be introduced from April 1, 2010  Govt committed to tax reforms  Total budget expenditure for 2009-10 will Rs 10,28,032 cr

16. The Budget Highlights  Plan expenditure, for both Centre and States, to go up by Rs 61,000 cr  Fiscal deficit in 2009-10 is proposed at 6.8 per cent of GDP  Higher public investment in infrastructure  Defense outlay has gone up

17. The Budget Highlights  Direct Tax code to be released in 45 days along with discussion paper  Share of direct taxes has increased to 56 per cent in 2008-09 over 41 per cent in 2007-08  Personal income tax exemption limit for senior citizens raised by Rs 15,000.  No change in corporate tax

18. The Budget Highlights  Effort is to improve tax collection by eliminating distortions in tax system and expanding the base  IT exemption limit raised; Rs 50,000 for Sr. Citizens  Limit raised by Rs 10,000 for tax payers, including women  10% surcharge on personal income tax scrapped

19. The Budget Highlights  Fringe Benefit Tax abolished  Minimum Alternate Tax on book profits increased to 15 per cent from 10%.  Commodities Transaction Tax abolished  New pension system trust exempted from security transaction tax and dividend distribution tax

20. The Budget Highlights  Income tax incentives on education loans expanded to cover vocational studies after schooling  Customs duty of 5 per cent being levied on import of set-top boxes used under Conditional Access System  Presumptive Taxation of 8 per cent on businesses of turnover of up to Rs 40 lakh  Small businesses up to Rs 40 lakh turnover exempted from filing advance tax returns

21. Pranab Mukherjee, the 73 year old politician, said there would be significant foreign capital inflow increase and also said that….. “I am conscious of people's faith in UPA."

22. His promises are certainly for the betterment of the nation. With the upcoming budget, let’s hope to see India growing and reaching new heights.