BY. UNIBA GHAZI

On July 23, Nirmala Sitharaman presented the 7th interim budget of PM Modi’s (3.0) government. She announced various projects to start by the government for agriculture, manufacturing, and service sector development. She announced there would be major changes in the capital gains tax regimes and income tax regimes. Further, she added in her speech that “The people have given a unique opportunity to our government to take the country on the path of strong development and all-round prosperity. In the interim budget, we promised to present a detailed roadmap for our pursuit of ‘Viksit Bharat’,”.

FM Nirmala Sitharaman said that 1.25% tax on long-term capital gain was got introduced with the ami to “simplify approach towards taxation.” She also added that “If anything, the average taxation has actually come down when we say it is 12.5%. We have worked out for each of the different asset classes.The point that we brought it down from below the average to 12.5% encourages investment in the markets. ”

Key highlights of the budget:

• the main approach of the budget is employment, Skilling, MSMEs, and middle class)

• Productivity of the Agriculture ( national cooperation policy, Atmanirbharta, Natural Farming, financing Shrimp farming, Digital Public Infrastructure)

• Employment projects ( internship schemes for 1 crore youth for 5 years, specific programs for women, five schemes to focus on 4.1 crore youth over 5 years with the outlay of two lakh crore)

• Schemes for MSME ( term loans for machinery purchase, technology support for MSME, more likely 24 branches will be opened by SIDBI to serve MSME group)

• PM Awas Yojana (Urban) and Jal Jeevan mission schemes

• Financial Schemes (MUDRA loan Yojana to increased from ten lakh to twenty lakh, education loans upto ten lakh in domestic institutions)

• Economic schemes ( inflation moving towards 4% target, more benefits for consumer goods, job creation, real estate, and auto sectors)

• Schemes for Social Development ( Extension of PMGKAY (Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana) for five years, Three lakh crore allocated for schemes benefiting women and girls).

Finance Minister Sitharaman also added that special help will be given to Bihar and Andhra Pardesh. She announced the allocation of Rs 15,000 crore for Andhra Pardesh development, she also emphasized on the Polavaram Dam project. As for Bihar, she announced the plans for the making of new airports, medical colleges, and for the sports infrastructure. Moreover, Rs 26,000 crore has been implemented for the making of highways in Bihar, which includes the Patna-Purnia, Buxar-Bhagalpur, and Bodhgaya-Rajgir-Vaishali-Darbhanga Expressway, along with a new two-lane bridge over the Ganga in Buxar. In Gaya, a 2,400 MW power plant and an industrial corridor node were also announced. Further, the government also reduced the custom duty on gold and silver to 6% and platinum to 6.4%. Also, the custom duty on mobile phones, accessories, and charges has been reduced to 15%.

Source taken from the Indian Express, the mint, business standards