Govt Has Announced Many Measures to Push Employment: PM on Budget
Catch all the Budget 2020 live updates here.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday, 1 February, that the government has announced many measures in the Union Budget to push employment in the country.
“This Budget has vision and action. New reforms announced in the Budget will give a push to the economy,” Modi said.
The Budget 2020 has proposed a new income tax regime with lower tax slabs. However, the new regime, which is an optional one, will come at the cost of a majority of exemptions that taxpayers can now avail.
- Addressing the media after the Budget presentation, FM Sitharaman said that the government intends to remove all I-T exemptions in the long run
- Sensex plummeted 987.96 points to end at 39,735, while Nifty fell over 300 points on Saturday
- The Government missed the fiscal deficit target for FY20
- Insurance cover for bank deposits has been raised from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh
- 100 new airports will be developed by 2024
- FM proposed laws against taxpayer harassment
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FM Sitharaman to Present Budget at 11 AM
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her first full budget at the Parliament at 11 am.
On Friday, the government released the Economic Survey for 2019-20 and projected a GDP growth rate of 6 to 6.5 percent for the fiscal year 2020-21.
Budget2020: Opposition Parties to Meet Post Budget Presentation
Opposition parties are likely to meet after the Budget presentation on 1 February to evolve a joint strategy for the upcoming Parliament session starting on Friday, 31 January.
Various parties have already held their individual strategy meets for the budget session of Parliament and would soon get together to evolve a joint strategy to corner the government on key issues concerning the common people, according to sources.
These include the protests and opposition over the amended citizenship act, price rise and inflation besides the poor state of the economy and rising unemployment.
Budget 2020: Economic Survey Pegs Growth at 6-6.5%
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey in the Parliament on Friday, 31 January, pegging growth rate for financial year 2020-21 at 6-6.5 percent.
Later, Chief Economic Adviser and author of Economic Survey Krishnamurthy Subramanian presented it, stating that the theme of the survey this year was wealth creation.
Budget 2020: FM Nirmala Sitharaman Arrives in Finance Ministry
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman arrives at the Ministry. She will present her second Budget later in the day.
Budget 2020: Believe in 'Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas': Anurag Thakur
Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur said that the Narendra Modi government believed in 'sabka sath, sabka vikas.'
“We received suggestions from across the country. The government is making efforts that this budget is good for all,” said Thakur.
Budget 2020: Sitharaman With 'Bahi-Khaata' Outside the Ministry
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman outside the Ministry with the 'Bahi-Khaata'. The team will meet President Ram Nath Kovind ahead of the presentation of the Budget.
Ahead of Budget 2020, Markets Slip in Early Trade
Sensex plunges 279.01 points to 40,444.48 ahead of Union Budget while the broader index Nifty sheds 81.45 points to 11,880.65.
Budget 2020: Sitharaman, Her Team Meets President
FM Sitharaman and her team met President Ram Narth Kovind ahead of presenting the Budget 2020. The finance minister will proceed to the Parliament House to attend a Cabinet meeting.
Budget 2020: Congress Hopes for Relief to Salaried Class, Investment in Rural India
The Congress on Saturday expressed hope that the Union Budget would provide relief to the salaried class through tax cuts and invest in rural India besides providing a healing touch to the common man and industry facing "hardship" since demonetisation.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the last budget led to crashing consumption levels, soaring unemployment and falling GDP.
Budget 2020: FM Sitharaman Arrives at Parliament
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and MoS Finance Anurag Thakur have arrived at the Parliament, to attend a Cabinet meeting ahead of presentation of the Budget.
Budget 2020: Sitharaman's Family Reaches Parliament
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's family arrive in Parliament ahead of Budget 2020.
Budget 2020: Fundamentals of Economy Strong, Says FM Sitharaman
Presenting the Budget, FM Sitharaman said the fundamentals of the economy are strong as inflation has been contained and bad loans of banks are being cleaned up.
Budget 2020: Sitharaman Pays Homage to Arun Jaitley
Praising the unveiling of Goods and Services Tax, FM Sitharaman paid homage to former finance minister Arun Jaitley during her Budget speech.
Sitharaman Spells Out Budget's Focus
Presenting her Budget speech, FM Sitharaman said this Budget is for boosting income, purchasing power of people.
Budget 2020: FM Sitharaman Lists GST Benefits
Presenting the Budget 2020, FM Sitharaman said after the implementation of GST, domestic expenses have come down by 4 percent on a monthly basis and 60 lakh new taxpayers have been added.
Budget 2020: FM Sitharaman Announces New GST Return System
Presenting her Budget speech, FM Nirmala Sitharaman announced that a new simplified GST return system will be put in place from April 2020.
Budget 2020: Economy Grew at 7.4% Between 2014-19, Says Sitharaman
Presenting her Budget, FM Sitharaman said that the economy grew at 7.4 percent between 2014-19 and inflation has been contained at 4.5 percent.
Budget 2020: FM Sitharaman Lays Out 16 Action Points for Agriculture Sector
Presenting the Budget 2020, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a 16-points action plan aimed at doubling farmers’ income by 2022.
Budget 2020: Govt Announces Rs 2.83 Lakh Crore Allocation for Agri and Rural Sector
FM Sitharaman allocates Rs 2.83 lakh crore in Budget 2020 for agriculture and rural sector - divided into two categories - Rural Development and Agricluture, Allied Activities & Irrigation
Budget 2020: FDI in India Rose to $284 Billion During 2014-19: FM
Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country has increased to $284 billion during 2014-19, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday while presenting the Union Budget for 2020-21.
"India's FDI got elevated to the level of $284 billion during 2014-19 from $190 billion that came in during the years 2009-14," she said.
Budget 2020: FM Sitharaman Announces Swachh Bharat Allocation
Budget 2020: FM Sitharaman Announces Health Sector Allocation
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocates Rs 69,000 crore for health sector in Budget 2020.
Budget 2020: Govt Aims to Eliminate TB by 2025
Presenting Budget 2020, government said that an anti-TB campaign will be launched to elimitate the disease by 2025.
Budget 2020: FM Announces Allocation for Education Sector
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announces an allocation of Rs 99,300 crore for education sector.
Rs 3,000 crore has been allocated for skill development.
Budget 2020: Govt Proposes Manufacturing Scheme for Cell Phones, Allied Products
Presenting the Budget 2020, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed scheme for manufacturing of cell phones, semi conductors and other electronic devices.
Budget 2020: Govt Proposes 100 New Airports by 2024
Finance Minister Sitharaman announces the setting up of 100 new airports by 2024 and the aim to double the fleet of commercial flights to 1,200.
Budget 2020: Govt Announces Plans for Railways
Presenting the Budget 2020, FM Sitharaman said more Tejas-type trains will connect tourist destinations.
She said 550 Wi-Fi facilities have been commissioned at railway stations, adding that 1,150 trains will be run in PPP mode, and four stations will be redeveloped with help of private sector.
Budget 2020: Task Force to Raise Minimum Age of Marriage for Women
In her Budget speech, FM Sitharaman proposed a task force to raise the minimum age of marriage for women. She also allocated Rs 28,600 crore for programmes specific to women.
Budget 2020: FM Announces Allocation for SC, ST, OBC-Specific Programmes
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announces an allocation of Rs 85,000 crore for SCs and OBCs and Rs 53,000 crore for STs
Budget 2020: All Ministries to Issue Quality Standard Orders, Says FM
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said all ministries will issue quality standards orders during the course of this year.
The move would help in promoting sale of quality goods in the country and cut import of sub-standard goods.
"In September last year, I had called for a time-bound adoption by industry of all necessary mandatory technical standards and their effective enforcement. All ministries during the course of this year be issuing quality standards orders," she said while presenting the Budget for 2020-21.
Budget 2020: Five On-Site Museums Proposed
FM Sitharaman, in her budget speech, proposed on-site museums at five archaeological sites in Haryana, UP, Assam, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.
A tribal museum in Ranchi has also been proposed.
Budget 2020: FM Proposes Taxpayer Charter
Presenting the Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a taxpayer charter to make laws in order to remain committed and assure taxpayers against harassment.
Budget 2020: Insurance Cover for Bank Deposits Raised
FM Sitharaman, in her Budget speech, proposed to raise the insurance cover for bank deposits from the existing Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.
Budget 2020: Govt Stake in IDBI Bank to be Privatised
Government proposed the selling off of government stake in IDBI Bank to private reail investors.
Budget 2020: Debt Restructuring Window for MSMEs Extended
Government has asked RBI to extend debt restructuring window for MSME by a year to March 31, 2021, FM Sitharaman says while proposing Budget 2020.
Budget 2020: Govt Proposes Divestment in LIC
Presenting the Budget 2020, FM Sitharaman proposed selling off a part of its stake in LIC.
Govt Misses Fiscal Deficit Target
Fiscal deficit for FY20 comes at 3.8 percent against government's target of 3.3 percent. For the next financial year, FY21, the target has been pegged at 3.5 percent.
Budget 2020: New Income Tax Regime Proposed
FM Sitharaman proposed a new tax regime with lower tax slabs. However, 70 out of the 100 exemptions that the taxpayers can avail currently will not be applicable under this regime.
Sensex Crashes 600 Points
Sensex slumps more than 600 points in afternoon trade to hit intra-day low of 40,015.37, Nifty slips more than 200 points.
Budget 2020: Govt Modifies Dividend Distribution Tax
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said dividend distribution tax has been shifted to individuals instead of companies.
In her second Budget presentation, the Finance Minister said concessional tax rate of 15 percent has been extended to power generation companies.
The government plans 100 per cent tax concession to sovereign wealth funds on investment in infra projects, she added.
Sitharaman further said concessional withholding rate of 5 per cent on interest payment to non-residents has been extended up to June 30, 2022.
Budget 2020: Nominal GDP Growth for FY21 Estimated at 10%
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said nominal GDP growth for 2020-21 is estimated at 10 per cent.
Presenting the Budget for 2020-21, Sitharaman said receipts for 2020-21 are pegged at Rs 22.46 lakh crore while expenditure at Rs 30.42 lakh crore.
The revised estimated expenditure for FY20 has been pegged at Rs 26.99 lakh crore and receipts at Rs 19.32 lakh crore, she said.
The net market borrowings would be at Rs 4.99 lakh crore in FY 2019-20 and are estimated at Rs 5.36 lakh crore in the next fiscal.
Budget 2020: New Process to Allott PAN Introduced
To ease allotment of PAN, new process of instantly allotting them through Aadhaar will be brought, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while presenting the Budget 2020.
'Longest Budget but Hollow': Rahul Gandhi
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi slammed the Union Budget 2020, saying he did not see anything substantial being done to tackle umemployment.
“The main issue facing is unemployment. I didn't see any strategic idea that would help our youth get jobs. I saw tactical stuff but no central idea. It describes the government well, lot of repetition, rambling-it is the mindset of the government, all talk, but nothing happening,” he said.
“Maybe this was the longest #Budget speech in history but it had nothing, it was hollow,” he added.
'Development Oriented, Pro-Farmer Budget': Adityanath
UP CM Yogi Adityanath congratulated PM Modi and Nirmala Sitharaman over the Union Budget.
“I congratulate Prime Minister Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for this development oriented and pro-farmer budget. This Budget will further strengthen the economy,” he said.
Defence Pension Budget Goes Up
For modernisation and buying new weapon systems, defence forces allocated Rs 1,10,734 crore which is Rs 10, 340 more than what was provided in last year’s budget.
The defence pension budget goes up to Rs 1.33 lakh crore from Rs 1.17 lakh crore allocated last year. The hike in defence pension budget is more than the hike given in revenue and capital funds for defence.
Sitharaman Skips 2 Pages of Budget Speech After feeling Unwell
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday cut short her Budget speech as she felt unwell after speaking for a record 160 minutes in Lok Sabha.
Sitharaman had only two pages of her Budget speech unread when she appeared uneasy and was seen wiping sweat from her forehead.
She was offered candies by her ministerial colleagues, but that did not help and she opted to discontinue the speech asking Speaker Om Birla to consider the remaining part of her speech as read.
This was the longest Budget speech by any finance minister.
She broke her own record of a 2-hour-17-minute-long maiden Budget speech in July 2017.
Govt Proposes Cut in Tax on Cooperative Societies to 22%
Sitharaman proposed reduction of tax on cooperative societies to 22 percent plus surcharge and cess, from 30 percent at present.
Presenting the Budget for 2020-21, Sitharaman also announced extending by one year the date of approval of affordable housing projects for availing tax holiday on profit earned by developers.
She also announced extension of additional Rs 1.5 lakh tax benefit on interest paid on affordable housing loans to March 2021.
Sitharaman further said the Income Tax Act will be amended to allow faceless appeals against tax orders on lines of faceless assessment.
Sensex Nosedives 900 Pts to 39,805.61
After Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget, Sensex nosedived 900.29 points to 39,805.61, while Nifty went down by 276.85 points to 11,685.25.
What Becomes Costlier and Cheaper After Budget
Among the items that will become costlier after the Budget presentation are cigarettes, tobacco products and medical equipment.
Meanwhile, items such as skimmed milk, certain alcoholic beverages, raw sugar and soya fibre will be cheaper, according to Livemint.
'Wanted to Place Money in Hands of People': FM Sitharaman on New Option I-T Regime
Speaking on the new optional income tax regime, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said at a media briefing post the Budget presentation, “We wanted to place money in the hands of the people, particularly the middle class and lower middle classes. We also wanted to simplify the income tax process and increase compliance.”
Govt Intends to Remove All I-T Exemptions in Long Run: FM Sitharaman
Addressing the media after the presentation of the Union Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government intends to remove all Income Tax exemptions in the long run.
On fiscal deficit, she said:
Sitharaman also pointed out that the government will provide additional capital to public sector banks as and when required.
Meanwhile, divisintment secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said that big ticket disinvestment can be expected in the next few months and one can be hopeful of achieving the Rs 2.10 lakh crore target in FY21.
“Expression of interest (EoI) for sale of government stake in Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) will be out shortly,” he said.
'Laundry List of Old Programmes': Chidambaram Slams Union Budget
Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram slammed the Modi government over the Union Budget saying that “the government has given up on reviving economy or accelerating growth rate or creating jobs.”
The Congress leader also termed the claim of 6-6.5 percent growth next year as “astonishing, even irresponsible”.
“The Indian economy is demand-constrained and investment-starved, the finance minister has not acknowledged these two challenges… The government does not believe in reforms, the finance minister has rejected every idea in the Economic Survey,” he added.
Govt Has Announced Many Measures to Push Employment: PM on Budget
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that the government has announced many measures in the Union Budget to push employment in the country.
“This Budget has vision and action. New reforms announced in the Budget will give a push to the economy,” Modi said.
Govt Plans to Ambush Legacy of Public Insitutions: Mamata on Budget
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday slammed the central government's proposal to sell a part of its shares in LIC, describing it as a plan to "ambush" the legacy of public institutions.
Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the insurance behemoth will be listed as part of the government's disinvestment initiative.