Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Friday presented the budget for 2012-13 in the Parliament.
Here are the highlights of the budget.
12:51 Iodised salt, match-boxes, soya products to become cheaper
12:50 Increase customs duty on imported cars to 75%
12:48 Raises custom duty on import on large SUVS
12:47 Increase excise duty on some Cigarettes
12:46 Customs duty on gold bar coins raised to 4%
12:45 Customs duty on platinum raised
12:44 Customs duty on gold raised
12:43 Some infra services exempted from service tax
12:42 Tax exemption of up to Rs 5,000 for health insurance towards annual preventive check up
12:41 Basic customs duty on bicycles raised to 30%
12:40 Exempts LCD LED panels from customs duty
12:39 Iron ore machinery part duty cut to 2.5%
12:40 Airline parts exempted from basic custom duty
12:38 Rs 15,890 crore for recapitalisation of PSU banks
12:38 Coal LNG exempt from customs duty
12:37 Exemption of customs duty of 5% on equipment for fertilizer plants
12:35 To keep peak custom rate unchanged
12:35 To raise duty on large cars 27 pc duty
12:34 Excise duty hiked to 12 pc from 10 pc
12:33 Service tax raised to 12 pc from 10 pc
12:31 FY13 market borrowing at Rs 4.79 lakh cr.
12:30 Introduction of compulsory reporting requirement of assets held abroad
12:29 To exempt some movie services from service tax
12:28 Govt services, education, entertainment, public transport exempted from service tax
12:27 School education exempted from service tax
12:24 FM says information on black money stashed abroad has started flowing in and prosecution to be executed in some cases
12:22 Removes restriction on venture capital investment
12:22 No change in corporate tax
12:20 Income above 10 lakh will have 30% income tax
12:20 Income from 5 to 10 lakh will have 20% income tax
12:20 Income Tax at 10 percent for Rs 2-5 lakh
12:19 Tax exemption limit up to 2 lakh
12:17 Introduce new law for micro finance institutions
12:16 FY12 fiscal deficit at 5.9% and FY13 fiscal deficit at 5.1%
12:15 7 medical colleges to be upgraded to All India Institutes
12:14 FY13 non plan expenditure at 9.7 lakh crores
12:13 Non-tax revenue receipts estimated at Rs 1.64 lakh crores
12:12 Additional 3 per cent interest subvention to farmers for promptly repaying their due
12:11 Rs 25,555 cr for Right to Education in FY13
12:10 Rs 193107cr in FY13 for defense
12:07 Rs 1000 crores for National Skill Development Fund in FY13
12:06 Rs 15,850 crore to be allocated to Integrated Child Development Scheme in 2012-13
12:05 Pranab says the Nandan Nilekani panel recommendation on direct transfer of subsidy accepted
12:04 NRHM allocation increased to Rs 20,820 cr.
12:03 FM announces new equity savings scheme
12:02 Rs 14000 crore for rural drinking and sanitation in FY 13
12:01 Rs 242 crore project with World Bank assistance to improve dairy production.
12:00 Credit guarantee fund for education loans
12:00 National mission for food processing
12:00 6,000 schools proposed to be set up in 12th year plan
11:58 1 percent loan subsidy on home loans up to Rs 15 lakh
11:57 New PDS for food security
11:56 Allocate Rs 14232 cr to UID project
11:55 Set up state-run irrigation facility
11:54 Remove infrastructure bottleneck: FM
11:53 Budget commits to multi-brand FDI
11:52 Tax free-infra bond for Rs 60,000
11:51 Allow ECB funding to finance working capital needs of airlines for 1 year
11:50 Rs 30,000 crore to be raised through disinvestment
11:49 To make 8,800 km of highways in FY13; outlay raised
11:48 Irrigation, dams eligible for a special fund
11:47 Tax exemption on individual share investment below Rs 10 lakhs
11:46 Become self sufficient in urea production in next 5 years
11:45 Some subsidies inevitable, says Pranab
11:44 FM promises tax incentive for new investors
11: 43 Considering FDI in airlines
11:42 Infrastructure debt fund launched
11:42 Sensex trading 180 points higher
11:40 Food subsidy will be fully provided for in the Budget
11 38 Consortium for direct lending approved
11: 36 Implement direct tax code the earliest
11:35 Focus on removing infrastructure bottlenecks
11: 34 Direct cash subsity to LPG, Kerosene
11: 30 Signs of turnaround in economy in March
11: 28 Address malnutrition decisively
11: 27 Bring down subsidy to 1.7 percent of GDP in the next 3 years
11: 25 Economy to grow at 7.6 percent in 2012/13
11: 24 Direct subsidy to retailers, farmers
11:23 Address the problem of black money; FM expects inflation will come down; Have to accelerate pace of reforms
11: 20 Need to improve supply side in economy says FM
11:15 Performance this year was disappointing but as compared to peers India was better says FM
11:10 Weak industrial growth has held us back says Pranab
11:05 Pranab Starts the budget presentation. He syas for Indian economy it has been a year of recovery interrupted.
10: 57 DMK MPs not attending Parliament for the Budget
10:45 Can Pranab Mukherjee take the initiative to halt the deteriorating economic growth? Can he make this a significant budget?
10:30 Rupee strengthens before budget
10:15 Oil & Gas: expect status quo to be maintained on customs and excise duties in the oil & gas sector in the light of the sustained high losses on sales of subsidized petroleum products at current retail selling price.
10:00 Nominal GDP growth of 14 to 14.5 percent is likely to be used for the budget arithmetic
09:45 In the fertilizer and chemical sector, there is an expectation that the customs duty on various inputs like LNG, Naphtha, Alcohol, Propylene etc will be removed from current rate of 5 percent.
09: 30 In the automobile sector, the expectation is that there will be an increase in excise duty across segments and also there is possibility of additional tax on diesel vehicles.
09: 20 Nifty crosses 5400. It is up by 25.60 points or 0.48 percent. Sensex is at 17760.01 up by 84.16 points or 0.48 percent
09:05 Finance Minister to meet the President
08:55 Market could remain highly volatile ahead of the presentation of the Budget.
Some major questions to be answered today are:
How large will the fiscal deficit and the government's borrowing be in FY 12-13?
Will there be any significant modification in the tax structure?
Will the latest state election results have a prominent influence on policies?
Will it be a populist budget or a pro-reform budget?
Following a year in which the fiscal deficit widened sharply, markets will be looking for signs that the deficit will fall in the next financial year that begins in April. There is a high possibility that the budget will be longer on promises than on specific measures.
