Presenting the ruling BJP government’s last full Budget before the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, Arun Jaitley said that India was the world’s “fastest growing”.
The Finance Minister began his speech with a list of achievements made by the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi – and emphasised that he was optimistic about the path taken by the country.
We are now a $ 2.5 trillion economy, and we are firmly on path to achieve 8 percent plus growth soon. We hope to grow at 7.2 percent to 7.5 percent in the second half of 2017-18.Arun Jaitley
But what does this Budget mean for you and me – the common man. The Quint breaks down the good, the bad and the terrible of Budget 2018-2019 right here. Take a look at a nutshell.
The Good
Jaitley proposed a 25 percent lower tax rate to companies with a reported turnover of Rs 250 crore. Lowering of corporate tax is in tune with Mr Jaitley’s promise in 2015-16 Budget.
Next, he announced a standard deduction of Rs 40,000 for the salaried class.
Further, by announcing a cut in the excise duty on petrol and diesel, the finance minister has tried to control the raising fuel prices.
In a boost to the Make in India initiative, custom duty on imported mobile phones has been increased to 20 percent, benefitting the domestic manufacturers.
For farmers, the good news came in the form of the a hike in the minimum support price for Kharif crops by 1.5 times of the production cost. A promise of free gas connection to 8 crore poor women under Ujwala scheme was also made. Under a new health programme, Rs 5 lakh per family per year has been proposed for 10 crore families.
The Bad
No change has been made in the personal income tax slabs and rates. The middle class had expected change in tax slabs while others had expected raising of exemption limit.
There has also been no tax cut for big corporate companies. That could have helped revive private investment as well as created more jobs.
The Terrible
Long-term capital gains tax up to Rs 1 lakh has been fixed at 10 percent. Besides, the fiscal deficit for 2017-18 at 3.5 percent of the GDP is higher than the earlier projected rate of 3.2 percent.
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