If you were looking for easy-to-grasp Budget highlights, read on. The 2021 Budget is the first budget that was not printed and of course, the very first one to be presented Post COVID-19. Our honorable finance minister had a tall order, as she always does. She has the unenviable task of managing industry expectations, government cash flows, and of course the expectations of the common man or aam aadmi. The average man on the street and industry needs more sops in terms of tax deductions, while the government needs more revenues through taxes to meet expenditure for social reforms.
The focus this year, and understandably so, has been on health given the COVID juggernaut that has taken several thousand lives in the last year and we don’t know its target in 2021. We discuss on the important decisions taken for the core sectors of our nation:
- Rs. 35000 crores for COVID vaccination
- Establishment of National Institute of One Health
- Swacch Bharat Swasth Bharat Program
- Personal Vehicles older than 20 years and commercial vehicles older than 15 years will be scrapped
- Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess: Rs. 2.5 per litre of petrol and Rs. 4 per litre of diesel. With a reduction of basic excise duty and special additional excise duty, the cost to the consumer remains the same
- Senior citizens over 75 years of age having only rent and pension income are not required to file IT returns
- The tax slab structure remains the same
- Time limit for reopening of assessment would be 3 years; in serious cases, where there is concealment of income of more than 50 lacs, assessment can be reopened up to 10 years
- Swamitva Scheme cards provided to 1.8 lac property owners for accurate land records
- Agriculture infrastructure fund available for mandis
- Infrastructure fund allocation 1.97 lac crores
- Mega Investment Textile Parks to create global export champions
- National Infrastructure Pipeline to cover 7400 projects
- National Monetization Pipeline
- IPO of LIC
- Asset monetization dashboard
- PSE non-core assets such as surplus land to be sold through SPV
- Target for 2020-2021 Rs. 1.75 lac crores
- National Rail Plan for India for a future-ready railway system 2030
- Rs. 25000 crores for infrastructure in poll states West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Assam for highway construction allocation
- 18000 crores for public bus transport services
- Jal Jeevan Mission Urban for universal water supply
- Additional supply of power for 2.8 crore households
- Hydrogen Energy Mission for 2022 for hydrogen energy
As you can see, the focus is on augmenting the government revenues and strengthening our infrastructure. Health is wealth, because to recover from Covid 19 as a nation and an individual, we need to be in the best shape of our lives. The aam aadmi remains disappointed, but with a growth-oriented budget that could create jobs, India Inc is poised for better times ahead.