1400 HRS

28th February, 2013

THE HEADLINES

• Finance Minister P. Chidambaram presents Union Budget 2013-2014 with focus to fast track Higher growth with inclusive development.

• No revision in tax slabs; 2000 rupees tax benefit to 2-5 lakh rupee income group; Surcharge of 5-10 per cent on companies with taxable income exceeding 10 crore rupees; 10 per cent additional surcharge for persons having taxable income of more than one crore rupees.

• 80,194 crore rupees allocation for rural development schemes including MGNREGA, PMGSY, INDIRA AWAS YOJANA; Rashtriya Bima Swastiya Yojana to be extended to rickshaw pullers, rag pickers and mine workers, 27,049 crore rupees allocated to Agriculture Ministry.

• Defence allocation increased to over two lakh crore rupees.

• A special Nirbhaya fund with 1000 crore rupees to be set up for Women's safety; India's first all women's bank to be set up by October this year; Education and Health Sector given priority; Leather products, precious stones to cost less and Raw silk, set top boxes, luxury motor vehicles and mobile phones to cost more.

• Private FM Radio stations in all cities with more than one lakh population; 2 new ports to be set up are some of the highlights of Budget.

• In Meghalaya, Congress wins 05 seats and leading in 24, UDP is leading in 3 constituencies and HSPDP in 4.

• In Tripura, ruling Left Front wins 25 seats with lead in 23 and Congress with lead in 6 constituencies.

• In Nagaland, Naga Peoples Front wins 21 seats, leading in 10 and Congress wins 03 with lead in 03 constituencies.

• Sensex down by 170 points.

• Indo-French pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Michael Llodra to take on Polish duo of Marcin Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg for a place in the Men's Doubles Semi finals.

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The Union Budget for 2013-14 proposes no change in Income Tax rates or slabs. 2000 rupees tax benefit has been given to those drawing income up to 5 lakhs rupees. The other highlights are:-

Rich to pay more and 10 percent surcharge proposed for income over one crore rupees.

Ø Excise and peak customs duty remain the same; Voluntary Compliance Scheme for Service Tax payers.

Ø One thousand crore rupees "Nirbhaya Fund" to boost safety of women; First women’s Public Sector Bank to be set up.

Ø 10 thousand crore rupees more for National Food Security.

Ø Cheaper loans to farmers to continue; 22 percent hike for allocation to Agriculture.

Ø Leather products, precious stones to cost less.

Ø Raw silk, Set Top Boxes, luxury motor vehicles and goods to cost more.

Ø Duty free gold import by passengers increased. Silver to cost more.

Ø Excise duty exemption to handmade carpets, textile flooring of coir and jute; Cheaper loan to Handloom sector.

Ø Sports Utility Vehicles, Mobile phones, marble become dearer.

Ø Smokers to pay more.

Ø Higher allocation to social sector; Rural Development to get a whopping 46 percent hike; 17 percent increase for education.

Ø Two new major ports to come up in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. Duty exemption to Ship Building Industry.

Ø 15 percent allowance to new investments by companies.

Ø Concessions to new home buyers.

Ø Rickshaw pullers, taxi drivers, sanitation workers, rag pickers and mine workers included in health insurance.

Ø Higher allocation to Defence.

Ø Private FM Radio services to all cities with over one lakh population.

Ø One thousand crore rupees for youth skill development; Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme to cover the entire country in a year.

Ø And fiscal deficit pegged at 4.8 percent for for 2013-14.

Presenting the budget in the Lok Sabha today, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said that the budget will focus on fast track higher growth with inclusive development. He said there is no case to revise the income tax slabs or the rates but he is inclined to give 2000 rupees as a relief to the tax payers in the first bracket of 2 lakh rupees to 5 lakhs. This will work out to an increase in the exemption to them from 2 lakh rupees to 2 lakh 20 thousand. About 1.8 crore tax payers are to benefit.

To make the rich pay more, the budget proposes a 10 percent surcharge for those getting income over one crore rupees a year. Domestic companies with income exceeding ten crore rupees a year will pay 10 per cent surcharge instead of present five. Foreign companies will pay five per cent surcharge, an increase of three per cent.

From 5 per cent to 10 per cent on domestic companies whose taxable income exceeds rupees 10 crore per year, in the case of foreign companies, who pay the higher rate of corporate tax of 40 per cent, the surcharge will increase from 2 per cent to 5 per cent. In all other cases such as dividend distribution tax, or tax with distributed income, I propose to increase the current surcharge of 5 per cent to 10 per cent.

Turning to indirect taxes, Chidambaram said there will be no change in the peak rate of ten per cent for non-agricultural products. To encourage exports, the budget proposes to reduce the customs duty on pre-forms of precious and semi-precious stones from ten per cent to two per cent. Export duty on de-oiled rice bran oil cakes withdrawn. Duty on specified machinery for manufacture of leather and leather goods including footwear is to come down from 7.5 to five per cent. Concession has been announced to aircraft maintenance, repair and overall industry. Duty on set top boxes goes up from five to 10 per cent. Raw silk to cost more with customs duty going up from five to 15 per cent. Duty on imported luxury goods including high end motor vehicles, motor cycles and yachts is to go up from 75 to hundred per cent. On motor cycles with 800 CC engine capacity, the duty will increase from 60 to 75 per cent. To redress the complaints of passengers because of increase in gold prices, duty free gold limit for male passengers increased to 50 thousand rupees and for females to one lakh rupees.

Announcing the excise duty concessions, the budget provides relief to readymade garment industry and handmade carpets and textile floor coverings of coir and jute are exempted from duty. Ship building industry, ships and vessels are also exempted from duty. Smokers were not spared as specific excise duty on cigarettes will go up by 18 per cent. Similar increase will also be made for cigars and other products. The excise duty on sports utility vehicles is to go up from 27 to 30 per cent but it will not be applicable for the vehicles registered as taxies.

Marble to cost more with higher duty of 60 rupees per square meter, double of the present rate. Silver manufactured from smelting zinc or lead will attract four per cent excise duty. Mobile phones will cost more. Six per cent higher duty is proposed for the sets costing more than two thousand rupees. Branded Ayurveda, Unani and such medical systems will be cheaper.

No change has been made in the service sector but the budget proposes to include all airconditioned restaurants. To promote better compliance, a Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme will be introduced. Defaulters may avail the scheme on truthful declaration of service tax dues since 1^{st October, 2007.}

To develop a robust manufacturing sector, the budget proposes an investment allowance of 15 per cent to a company that invests more than one hundred crore rupees in plant and machinery in the next two years. Transactions in immovable properties are undervalued and to check the trend, TDS will be applied at the rate of one per cent on the value of transfer of immovable property costing over 50 lakh rupees. Agricultural lands will be exempted.

Making three promises for women, youth and the poor, the Finance Minister said as the nation has a collective responsibility to ensure the dignity and safety of women, a number of initiatives are now under way. He proposed one thousand crore rupees to set up the Nirbhaya Fund to meet the commitments to womens’ safety.

A number of initiatives are underway. Many more will be taken by government as well as non government organisations. I propose to set up a fund, let us call it the Nirbhaya Fund. And government will contribute Rupees 1000 crore Ministry of Women and Child Development and other Ministries concerned will be requested to work out with details of the structure scope and application of the fund.

The budget proposes one thousand crore rupees to promote skill development of the youth and promises to cover the entire country with the direct benefit transfer scheme for the poor during the term of the UPA Government. An additional 10 thousand crore rupees is proposed for the ambitious National Food Security Scheme. The cheaper loan of interest subvention scheme for short term crops will continue to benefit the farmers. The allocation for the agricultural sector has been increased by 22 per cent. The social sectors get higher allocation with provision for rural development going up by a whopping 46 per cent to cross 80 thousand crore rupees.

Allocations for Rural Development has been hiked by 46 per cent to cross over 80,000 crore rupees in 2013-14. MGNREGS will get 33,000 crore rupees, PMGSY will get 21,700 crore and IAY will get 15,184 crore rupees.

The Ministry of Rural Development steers a number of flagship programmes. We estimate that we will be able to spend rupees 55,000 crore before the end of the current year. And I propose to allocate rupees 80,194 crore in 2013-14 marking an increase of 46 per cent .MGNREGS will get rupees 33000 crore, PMGSY will get rupees 21700 crore and Indira Awas Yojana will get Rs.15,184 crore.

Health and education for all remaining the main priorities, the health sector will get an increased allocation of 24.3 per cent and education 17 per cent. The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana is to be extended to Rickshaw pullers, taxi drivers, sanitation workers, rag pickers and mine workers. It already covers 34 million families.

The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana covers 3.4 crore families below the poverty line. It will now be extended to other categories, such as rickshaw, auto rickshaw and taxi drivers, sanitation workers, rag pickers and mine workers.

Eligibility for Life Insurance Policies for persons suffering from disability will be relaxed.

The allocation for the welfare programmes of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes children, the budget proposes 41 thousand 561 crore rupees, an increase of 12.5 per cent for the scheduled castes sub plan and 24 thousand 598 crore rupees, an increase of 31 per cent for the tribal sub-plan. The allocation for the programmes for the welfare of minorities has been increased by 12 per cent.

To bring green revolution to eastern India, the budget proposes one thousand crore rupees to increase rise production in Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.

Integrated Child Development Programme is proposed to get 17 thousand 700 crore rupees, an increase of 11.7 per cent with focus on early childhood care and education. 100 districts are to be covered to remove maternal and child mal nutrition. Over 15 thousand crore rupees will be spent for safe drinking water and sanitation.

Two new ports are proposed to be set up in Sagar in West Bengal and in Andhra Pradesh to add one million tones capacity. Besides a new outer harbour will be developed at Thoothukkudi Port in Tamil Nadu at a cost of seven thousand five hundred crore rupees. The budget proposes 226 crore rupees for improving power supply in the Leh-Kargil region and to connect the Ladakh region to the Northern grid.

The budget also proposes to set up India’s first Women’s Bank as a public sector bank and allocates one thousand crore rupees as initial capital for the project.

New home buyers are to get an additional tax benefit with deduction of interest of one lakh rupees. If this limit is not exhausted the balance can be claimed in 2015-16 financial year as well. Contributions made to the Central Government Health Scheme are already eligible for deduction under section 80D and it will be extended to similar schemes of the Central and State Governments.

The budget proposes to increase allocation for defence to over two lakh three thousand crore rupees. It also proposes to expand private FM Radio Services to 294 more cities to cover all cities having more than one lakh population.

A Bill on the Direct Tax Code will be brought before the House in this budget session. A consensus on goods and services tax is being evolved and in the meanwhile the budget proposes nine thousand crore rupees towards the first installment of the balance of Central Sales Tax compensation.

Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme to be liberalized. Additional deduction of interest upto one lakh rupees for those taking the first home loan upto 25 lakhs rupees proposed. Instruments protecting savings from inflation are to be introduced in consultation with the RBI.

The budget proposes to peg the fiscal deficit at 4.8 per cent. After presenting the budget, the Finance Minister also placed the Finance Bill for 2013-14 before the House.

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The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh today said if India succeeds in achieving 8 per cent growth, the winner will be the people of India. In an exclusive interview to Prasar Bharti, Dr Singh said the finance minister has done a commendable job. Dr Singh said multi pronged strategy needed to deal with challenges of fiscal deficit, inflation and current account deficit.

The Prime minister said there is plenty for every ministry and it is now up to the collective wisdom of the cabinet to make it sustainable. Dr Singh admitted there are many problems like environmental and forest clearances and land acquisition problems. The Prime minister said, the budget will contain deficit while simultaneously addressing the growth imperatives.

Viewing, the challenges facing our economy, Finance Minister has done a commendable job. India needs to create jobs for our growing labour force to the extent of about 10 million persons every year. To do that we need to accelerate the tempo of our growth.

The Prime minister said the finance minister has taken steps to reverse the pessimistic mood of investors. On current account deficit, Dr Singh said it can not be reduced in one go but from 2.5 to 3 per cent of GDP is on safe side.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari in his tweet said, the budget is prudent, productive and progressive and it would boost growth.

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The Chamber of Indian Industry has welcomed the Union Budget saying it is development oriented and aims at ensuring inclusive growth. Speaking to the media, CII President Adi Godjrej also commended finance minister Chidambaram for containing the fiscal deficit to 5.2 per cent in the current fiscal and efforts to lower it down to 4.2 per cent in the next fiscal.

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The Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange rose 163 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 19,315 in early trade, today, ahead of the Union Budget, amid a firm global trend. But after the presentation of the budget the Sensex gave up all its initial gains, and stood 176 points, or 0.9 percent in negative territory, at 18,977 in afternoon trade a short while ago.

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In Tripura, the ruling Left front has bagged an absolute majority in the 60 member assembly. The Left parties have won 37 seats and Congress 6, results of which have been declared so far.

In Nagaland, the ruling Naga Peoples Front wins 20 seats and is leading in nine, while in Meghalaya, eight results have been declared so far. Three each have gone in favour of the Congress and the UDP while NCP and others win one each.

In Tripura, the ruling Left Front has won 25 seats and the Congress four, the results of which have been declared so far. Left Front candidate were leading in 23 constituencies while Congress nominees in 6 when reports last came in. Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has won from Dhanpur constituency by a margin of over 5000 votes. Former Congress Chief Minister Samir Ranjan Barman has lost to Left Front candidate but his son who is Tripura State Congress President Sudip Roy Barman was leading against his nearest CPIM rival when reports last came in.

Sitting CPIM candidate Yashbir Tripura has retained Jolaibari seat by defeating Congress candidate by over nine thousand vote. A report

The CPIM led Left Front is all set to register a thumping victory for consecutive fifth term. Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has registered convincing victory from Dhanpur constituency by a margin of over five thousand votes. Senior Left front leaders and sitting ministers including Anil Sarkar,Badal Choudhury ,Manindra Reyang ,Aghore Deb Barman are also re-elected from their constituencies. On the other hand, opposition Congress failed to woo voters of the state .Former Congress Chief Minister Samir Ranjan Barman lost to Left Front candidate. Manas Pratim Sarma/Agartala

In Nagaland, out of 33 results declared so far, ruling Naga Peoples Front has bagged 22, Congress-4 and NCP two BJP - one and others three. The NPF was leading in 10 constituencies, NCP in 2 and Congress -2 when reports last came in.

The Phek constituency has gone in favour of an independent candidate. The BJP has won in Tizit constituency while in the Aboi constituency, Congress party candidate has been declared elected.

Polling for the Tuensang Sadar- I Assembly Constituency was countermanded due to the death of Congress Candidate and sitting MLA P. Chuba Chang.

In the Nagaland Assembly Elections this time, among the prominent winners are State Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee(NPCC) President S. I. Jamir. Prominent losers are State School Education Minister Nyeiwang Konyak of NPF and former NPCC President K. V. Pusa. In Northern Angami-II Assembly Constituency State Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio defeated his nearest rival Kevise Sugotsu of Congress in straight fight with a huge margin of 14,732 votes. In Pughoboto Assembly Constituency Y. Vikheho of the NPF defeated sitting Congress MLA Joshua Sumi by a margin of 2,286 votes. This is Anenla Jamir, AIR News, Kohima.

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In Meghalaya, ten results declared so far. The Congress bagged six, UDP three and NCP and others one each. In Mawkyrwat constituency, the Congress candidate Rowell Lyngdoh defeated his nearest rival Hadrian Lyndoh, an independent candidate over a margin of 900 votes. In Ranikor constituency Martin M Danggo of Congress party defeated his nearest rival United Democratic party candidate P.K. Raswi over a margin of 450 votes.

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Indo-French pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Michael Llodra take on Polish duo of Marcin Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg for a place in the Men's Doubles Semi finals of ATP Dubai Open Tennis Championships today. In the quarter finals, they beat Serbian pair of Janko Tipseravic and Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-3 yesterday