 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Architecting
Bharat Nirman While the Service Tax rate has been left untouched, new services have been brought into the taxable fold. They include services outsourced for mining of minerals, oil or gas, asset management and design services, development and supply of content for use in telecom and advertising purposes and renting of immovable property for commercial purpose. The exemption limit for small service providers from Rs. 4 lakh to Rs. 8 lakh. Two lakh assesses will go out of tax net causing a revenue loss of Rs 800 crore. All services provided by technology business incubators and clinical trial of new drugs have been exempted from service tax net. Flagship programmes The eight flagship programmes of the UPA government will continue to get high priority. Rs. 24,603 crore have been allocated for Bharat Nirman programme, recording a rise of 31.6 percent over the last year. While the allocation on education has been increased by 34.2 percent to Rs.32,352 crore, the allocation for health and family welfare has been increased by 21.9 percent to Rs. 15,291 crore. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan gets Rs.10,671 crore and the Mid-Day Meal Scheme will be extended to upper primary classes in 3,427 educationally backward blocks. Rs. 750 crore has been proposed for Means-cum-Merit Scholarships to reduce dropouts after class VIII. National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme will be extended to 330 districts from the current level of 200 districts. Rs. 12,000 crore has been earmarked for this scheme besides allocating Rs. 2,800 crore for Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojna to augment rural employment. The allocation for Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojna has been hiked by 50%, from Rs. 1200 crore to Rs. 1800 crore to promote self-employment among rural poor. To increase the economic viability of the agricultural sector, 50 lakh new farmers will be brought into the banking system next year (2007-08) with a target of Rs. 2,25,000 crore as farm credit. The Government will act on the Radhakrishnan Committee which is examining all aspects of agricultural indebtedness. To double the production of certified seeds for pulses, the government would give capital grant or concessional financing. A financial mechanism for coffee, rubber, spices, cashew and coconut in line with a Special Purpose Tea Fund which has already been launched. The allocation under accelerated irrigation benefit programme has been increased from Rs. 7,121 crores to Rs. 11,000 crore. Out of this, the grant component to the State Governments will be Rs. 3,580 crore. Keeping in view the growing demand for rural infrastructure development fund, the Finance Minister proposed to increase the size of this fund to Rs. 12,000 crore. The government has decided to bring the unorganised landless households under a safety net by providing insurance. The scheme to be called ‘Aam Admi Bima Yojna’ will be launched by the LIC and will provide death and disability insurance. The Central Government will bear 50 percent of the premium of Rs.200 per year per person. NHB's Reverse Mortgage The
National Housing Bank will introduce ‘reverse mortgage’ for senior
citizens under which the house owner can avail of a monthly stream
of income while remaining owner and occupying the house. Regulations
will be put in place to allow the creation of mortgage guarantee
companies.he government has proposed to increase the allocation
for the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) from Rs.8,207 crore
in 2006-07 to Rs.9,947 crore in 2007-08. Major emphasis is given
on mother and child care and on prevention and treatment of communicable
diseases like TB and malaria. Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani,
Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) systems were being mainstreamed into
the health delivery system at all levels. Polio eradication programme
has been integrated with NRHM and Rs.1290 crore allocated to this
with the aim to eradicate polio from the country. The
Budget has made provision for various schemes in the textiles, handlooms
and coir sectors. Strengthening the Capital Market To further strengthen the capital market, the Finance minister has announced following measures during his Budget speech. PAN to be made sole identification number for all participants in securities market with an alpha-numeric prefix or suffix to distinguish a particular kind of account; Idea of Self Regulating Organisations (SRO) to be taken forward for different market participants under regulations to be made by SEBI; Mutual funds to be permitted to launch and operate dedicated infrastructure funds; Individuals to be permitted to invest in overseas securities through Indian mutual funds; Short selling settled by delivery, and securities lending and borrowing to facilitate delivery, by institutions to be allowed; and Enabling mechanism to be put in place to permit Indian companies to unlock a part of their holdings in group companies for meeting their financial requirements by issue of Exchangeable Bonds. While the Golden Quadrilateral is nearing completion and the North-South, East-West corridor projects made considerable project, the government is now putting lot of emphasis on successful completion of National Highway Development Programme (NHDP). Rs. 10,667 crore for the NHDP projects for fiscal 2007-08. The accelerated power development and reform project which has reduced technical and commercial losses in 213 towns is being restructured to cover all district headquarters and towns with a population of over 50000. Rs. 800 crore has been allocated for this project during the coming year and another Rs. 3983 crore under Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana. The government is also giving a five-year tax holiday to two, three and four-star hotels in the national capital territory of Delhi, ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Convention centres with a sitting capacity of not less than 3,000 will also get tax holiday if they are completed and begin operation between April 2007 and March 2010. Rs. 150 crore has been allocated to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Rs. 350 crores to the Delhi Government for the Games. The direct tax proposals will yield Rs. 3000 crore more while the indirect tax proposals are revenue neutral. Rs. 96,000 crore for Defence. The gross budgetary support for 2007-08 has been increased to Rs. 2,05,100 crore, of which the Central Plan will be Rs. 1,54,939 crore. The non-plan expenditure marks a rise of 6.5 percent to Rs. 435,421 crore. The total revenue receipts of the Central Government is projected to be Rs. 486,422 crore. The revenue deficit has been pegged at 1.5 percent of the GDP at Rs. 71,478 crore while the fiscal deficit has been fixed at 3.3 percent of the GDP. The Finance minister is confident that the current average inflation on 5.2 percent to 5.4 percent can be moderated. e-Governance Centres of Excellence 1396 Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) have been proposed to be upgraded into Centres of Excellence in specific trades and skills under public-private partnership (PPP). Under the proposed scheme, the State Government, as the owner of the ITI, will continue to regulate admission and fees; the new management will be given academic and financial autonomy and the Central government will provide financial assistance by way of seed money. Each ITI would be given an interest-free loan upto Rs. 2.5 crore for upgradation and revision of courses. He sought the cooperation of the State governments in upgrading at least 300 ITIs every year beginning 2007-08 under the PPP mode. Rs. 750 crore have been kept aside for this purpose. * India’s fiscal year is April-March.
Source: Press Information Bureau
|
