Union Budget 2018: Unfair to judge me on demonetisation and GST only, says Narendra Modi

Countering the allegation that his government had reneged on the promise of making 10 million jobs a year, high Minister Narendra Modi quoted a current take a look at showing seven million jobs had been created inside the formal zone by myself inside the cutting-edge economic 12 months.

Union Budget 2018 : “This statistics of 7 million jobs is not like building castles within the air. it has been calculated with the aid of an independent organization on the basis of EPFO (personnel’ Provident Fund business enterprise) figures,” Modi said in a tv interview, days before leaving for Davos to wait the arena monetary discussion board meet.

One have to additionally remember the opportunities that had been being created in the informal sector, he introduced.

“As many as one hundred million people have taken loans from the high Minister Mudra Yojana with none financial institution guarantee. Loans to the tune of Rs 4 trillion have been distributed. New entrepreneurs are being created. won’t you matter these figures as activity creation?” he asked.

“you could counter these figures at the political traces, however these numbers aren't primarily based on simply wishful questioning,” he said. “we're at the proper tune so far as activity introduction is worried.”

In step with a study authored by SBI group leader financial guide Soumya Kanti Ghosh and IIM Bangalore professor Pulak Ghosh, 590,000 jobs have been generated each month till November within the contemporary monetary 12 months. because of this seven million jobs will be created within the formal zone in 2017-18 if one expands the fashion on a seasoned-rata foundation.

The study, titled “in the direction of a Payroll Reporting in India”, calculated the variety of jobs in corporations from the membership of the EPFO, the personnel’ nation insurance organisation, the overall Provident Fund, and the countrywide Pension gadget (NPS). so far as information from the EPFO is worried, the observe estimated that three.68 million jobs have been generated till November of FY18, which would imply 5.five million within the complete 12 months. this will be higher than the four.5 million created the previous economic year, a length which saw disruption from demonetisation.

when requested as to what type of finances, the closing complete one of the Narendra Modi government, it will be, the top minister said the mantra of his authorities become improvement. “whether or not this is the final finances or the primary budget, whether there are elections or no longer, the mantra of Modi is best improvement, improvement and improvement. the mantra of the Bharatiya Janata birthday celebration is best improvement. Sabka sath, sabka vikas (Cooperation from all, development for all).”

The PM spoke at length about the want for simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls. He stated there has been a want for multiplied debate on the difficulty. “This cannot be the time table of 1 political birthday party or person. It isn’t Modi’s or BJP’s agenda only. there is a need for discussion in this,” he stated.

Modi stated the united states of america ultimate inside the perennial election mode no longer simplest affected governance, however also hurt the federal structure of the united states of america.

speaking about how elections lead to battle of phrases among political rivals, Modi likened elections to the pageant of Holi. Holi, he said, turned into celebrated on a specific day in which it changed into proper to throw hues or dust on people. “further, the Lok Sabha and assembly elections ought to take vicinity at a fixed time, for example in the second week of February.”

Budget 2018: Soon, tax-free Rs 2-mn gratuity for employees may be a reality

Payment of Gratuity Amendment Bill 2017 is likely to be passed in the forthcoming Budget session, which will make formal sector workers eligible for tax-free Rs 2 million (Rs 20 lakh) gratuity.

At present, formal sector workers with five or more years of service are eligible for Rs 1 million (Rs 10 lakh) tax-free gratuity after leaving a job or at time of superannuation.

"The Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2017, will be passed in the Budget 2018session of Parliament, expected to begin by the end of this month," a source said.

The source further said, "The government wants to provide tax-free gratuity of Rs 2 million (Rs 20 lakh) to organised sector workers at par with central government."

The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in the winter session of Parliament last month. Once the Bill is passed by Parliament, the government will not be required to go to it again for deciding the quantum of tax-free gratuity.

The Bill seeks to allow the government to notify the period of maternity leave and gratuity that can be availed by employees under a central law.

The Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2017, was introduced by labour minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar in the Lok Sabha on December 18, 2017.

The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, was enacted to provide for gratuity payment to employees engaged in factories, mines, oilfields, plantations, ports, railway companies, shops or other establishments.

The law is applicable to employees who have completed at least five years of continuous service in an establishment that has ten or more persons.

The amendment will also allow the central government to notify the maternity leave period for "female employees as deemed to be in continuous service in place of existing twelve weeks".

The proposal comes against the backdrop of the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017, enhancing the maximum maternity leave period to 26 weeks.

With respect to gratuity, the amount is calculated on the basis of a formula which is 15 days of wages for each year of completed services, subject to the ceiling of Rs 1 million (Rs 10 lakh). This limit was fixed in 2010.

After implementation of the 7th Central Pay Commission, the ceiling of gratuity amount for central government employees has been increased from Rs 1 million (Rs 10 lakh) to Rs 2 million (Rs 20 lakh).

Budget 2018: Real estate expects lower GST rate, infrastructure status

Stamp duty continues to remain in force even after implementation of GST and the rates vary from state to state

Severely impacted by various reforms like RERA, GST and demonetisation, the realty sector is pinning its hopes on Budget 2018-19 for relief measures like lower taxes and infrastructure status.

The year 2017 was an eventful one for the sector with many structural policy reforms, which resulted in a significant decline in home launches to 1,03,570 units compared to 1,75,822 in 2016.

Industry players are expecting rationalisation of the GST rates from the current 12 per cent to 6 per cent and bringing stamp duty under the ambit of GST.

"Also, industry status to the full real estate sector will help in creating surplus housing demand along with financing at lower rate for long-term projects.

"Rationalisation of GST by capping it at 6 per cent with input tax credit for the entire segment in real estate will help revive and boost demand," Naredco National President Niranjan Hiranandani said.

During the pre-GST era, service tax was around 4.5 per cent and VAT 1 per cent -- resulting in total tax outgo of 5.5 per cent.

"Further, stamp duty continues to remain in force even after implementation of GST and the rates vary from state to state which increases the costs for the consumer.

"We hope that state governments abolish the same or merge with the existing GST rates," House of Hiranandani Chairman and MD Surendra Hiranandani said.

Tata Housing Managing Director and CEO Brotin Banerjee said, "We look forward to seeing the additional stamp duty and registration on properties be reduced or merged with GST. A reduction of the taxes and add-on costs, inclusive of brokerage, on under-construction properties, will also ease the financial burden from a consumer perspective."

Apart from GST, infrastructure status to the entire sector tops the list of their expectations from the budget.

" Budget 2018 Real estate sector should be allotted infrastructure status, which will lead to construction funds being available to the developer at much lower interest rates.

"This will eventually benefit EWS and LIG customers, as the developers would be in a position of making the projects really affordable in its true sense," Poddar Housing and Development Managing Director Rohit Poddar said.

The industry is also expecting certain tax sops to homebuyers like increasing the Rs 2 lakh tax deduction limit for housing loans, and tax incentives for first-time home buyers hiked from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh, Omkar Realtors Chief Financial Officer Manoj Paliwal and Transcon Triumph Vice President, Sales and Marketing Sarojini Ahuja said.

Credai National President Jaxay Shah said the developers' apex body expects deep concessions in income tax of at least Rs 5 lakh per annum for home buyers.

The industry is also expecting reforms in land acquisition.

"Some allocations towards accessing of loans for acquisition of land parcels would be needed to act as an accelerant for growth of affordable housing," Puravankara Managing Director Ashish Puravankara said.

Shree Krishna Group Managing Director Sundeep Jagasia said, "We expect that government will focus on the issue of land costs being high. Lowering the costs for land acquisition will boost many private players. If the government does so, there will be many new launches and quick delivery of projects by the private players.

20 things Jaitley changed in India through this budget

Income Tax investigators given more power & carbon traders get concessions

Budget 2017 : There were many things that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said during his budget speech but there are many more that went unsaid. Here is a list of 20 things that could have a direct or indirect impact on your life:

• With regard to a foreign company, sale of leftover stock of crude oil in case of strategic petroleum reserve after the expiry of the agreement, subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions, shall not be liable to tax in India.
• In case of income arising from sale of carbon credit, a concessional tax rate of ten per cent will be given
• Government, foreign missions and state PSUs engaged in the passenger transport business will be exempted from Tax Collection at Source (TCS) provisions relating to purchase of vehicles.
• Conditions of special taxation regime for offshore funds under section 9A of the Income-tax Act has been modified. Now, maintenance of minimum fund size would not be necessary for the year in which the fund is being wound up.
• Income from Chief Minister’s Relief Fund or the Lieutenant Governor’s Relief Fund shall be exempted from tax.
• Certain entities like Investor Protection Funds, Core Settlement Guarantee Fund, Tea/Coffee/Rubber Boards, enjoying exemption from levy of income-tax under section 10 of the Income-tax Act, shall be required to furnish return of their income.
• In order to ensure timely filing of returns of income, it is proposed to levy a fee in case of delay in filing the return. Read more

Budget 2017 has sops for selling property but restrictions on buying

Holding period for long term capital gains tax brought down to two years from earlier three

Budget 2017 : Your tax liability would now be lower when you sell a house in the third year after purchase. You can now claim long term capital gains (LTCG), if you sell a house after holding it for two years from the date of completion. Earlier, one could claim LTCG only after a holding period of three years. The rate for LTCG tax usually works out to be lower compared to short term capital gains (STCG) tax.

LTCG is paid either at flat 10% or 20% after adjusting the property price for inflation. STCG is added to the income of the seller and taxed as per his income tax slab, which comes to 30% if the gains are Rs 10 lakh or more.

While announcing the move, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said: “This move will significantly reduce the capital gain tax liability while encouraging the mobility of assets."

“The government seems to have made the changes to revive the property market that has suffered due to demonetisation,” says Rahul Garg, partner and leader direct tax, PwC.

Preeti Khurana, a chartered accountant with ClearTax, says that it was a surprise move to see the government giving sops for selling a house for a shorter holding period.

While the government has given relief for selling of property, it has brought down a benefit provided on buying a second house. The government has restricted the interest deduction for second home that buyers get under Section 24. Read more

Highways allocation stepped up to Rs 64,000 crore: Arun Jaitley

'For transport sector -- railways, road, shipping, govt provides Rs 2,41,000 cr,' Jaitleysaid

Budget 2017 : Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday announced enhancing the outlay for National Highways by 11 per cent to Rs 64,000 crore for 2017-18.

Presenting the Budget in Parliament on Wednesday, Jaitley said, "In the road sector, I have stepped up the budget allocation for the National Highways from Rs 57,676 crore in the budget estimate of 2016-17 to Rs 64,000 crore in 2017-18."

"For transport sector, including railways, road and shipping, government provides Rs 2.41 lakh crore," he added.

Jaitley said 2,000 km of coastal connectivity roads have been identified for construction and development. This will facilitate better connectivity of ports and remote villages, he said.

"The total length of roads including those under the PMGSY built from 2014-15 to current year is about 1,40,000 km, which is significantly higher than the previous three years," Jaitley said.

He said 133-km roads per day were constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) as against 73-km in 2011-14.

Budget relief to middle class, 5% income tax for Rs 2.5-5 lakh earners

However, earners in between Rs 50 lakh and Rs one crore will have to pay 10% surcharge

The Budget gave relief to on personal income tax front, mainly the salaried group in the middle class, by halving the tax to five per cent up to the income of Rs 5 lakh to ease the pains of demonetisation. However, those earning above Rs 50 lakh and up to Rs one crore will have to shell out additional 10 per cent surcharge.

The cut in the tax rate for the lowest slab will also save up to Rs 12,500 for incomes in other slabs, increasing disposable income of the middle class that can provide spur to the slowing down economic growth. The present super rich tax in the form of 15 per cent surcharge will remain for those earning income over Rs one crore.

The finance minister also put more money in the hands of small and medium enterprises by reducing the corporate tax rate to 25 per cent from the current 30 per cent for annual turnover up to Rs 50 crore. Ninety six per cent of companies which file returns come under this category.

Besides middle class and SMEs, the finance minister also addressed the concerns of foreign portfolio investors by exempting India-based funds them from the indirect transfer provisions. The government had put on hold the recent rules by the Central Board of direct taxes in this regard.

Budget 2017 News, India Union Budget 2017-18, Latest News & Stories, Live Updates, Headlines & Highlights for Budget 2017-2018 | Business Standard

Big relief to middle class! I-T rate for Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh annual income bracket halved to 5%

Govt to abolish Foreign Investment Promotion Board: Finance Minister

The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has been decided to be abolished, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley declared in his budget presentation on Tuesday.

While, the FIPB had the final say in approving Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) proposals in the country for long, its power has been systematically reduced under the current government. Most notably, back in June, 2016 the government had announced relaxed FDI norms in single brand retail, civil aviation, airports, pharmaceuticals, animal husbandry and food products.

It had allowed up to 100% FDI in defence through the approval route, 100 per cent FDI in food product e-commerce, 100 per cent FDI in greenfield pharma via the automatic route, 100% in browfield pharma — of which 74% will be through automatic route — 100 per cent FDI in scheduled airlines, and up to 49 per cent FDI in airlines through automatic route.

In the last two years, the government has brought major FDI policy reforms in a number of sectors, including defence, construction development, insurance, pension sector, broadcasting sector, tea, coffee, rubber, cardamom, palm oil tree and olive oil tree plantations, single brand retail trading, manufacturing sector, limited liability partnerships, civil aviation, credit information companies, satellites - establishment/operation and asset reconstruction companies.

Incoming FDI grew 27 per cent in the first seven months of the fiscal to $27.82 billion, from $21.87 billion a year ago. Manufacturing accounted for 41.5 per cent of the total equity inflows into the country during April-October, according to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion’s (DIPP) year-end review.

This happened at a time when the government made a fervent pitch abroad for ‘Make in India’ to make India a manufacturing hub of the world and generate large scale employment. Services, telecom, trading, computer hardware and software and automobiles were among the major sectors that attracted FDI during this period. Read more

• Big relief to middle class! I-T rate for Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh annual income bracket halved to 5%
• India Budget 2017-2018 | India Union Budget 2017-2018 News, Analysis, Budget 2017-2018 Highlights - Business Standard News
• Budget 2017 News, India Union Budget 2017-18, Latest News & Stories, Live Updates, Headlines & Highlights for Budget 2017-2018 | Business Standard

Budget highlights: Fiscal deficit target for 2017-18 at 3.2%

Allocation under MNREGA increased to 48,000 cr from Rs 38,500 cr; highest ever allocation

Here are the highlights of Jaitley's budget for the 2017/18 fiscal year that begins on April 1.

FISCAL DEFICIT

* The 2017/18 budget seeks to pursue prudent fiscal management to preserve financial stability.

*Fiscal deficit at 3.4%

*Revenue deficit stands reduced to 2.1% in Fy18

GROWTH

* Jaitley says India seen as an engine of global growth

DEMONETISATION

* Demonetisation "a bold and decisive measure", will make GDP bigger and lead to higher tax revenues - finance minister

* Hit to economy from government decision to outlaw high-denomination notes will be "transient", effects of demonetisation not expected to spill over to next year

* Pace of remonetisation has picked up and will soon reach comfortable levels

* Surplus money in the banking system will lower borrowing costs, increase credit flow

INFLATION

*Consumer price index inflation is expected to remain within the central bank's mandated range of 2 to 6%

SPENDING

* India to spend more in rural areas, infrastructure and poverty alleviation

* The government will continue process of economic reforms for the benefit of poor

* Allocation under MNREGA increased to Rs 48,000 cr from Rs 38,500 cr; highest ever allocation

*Dedicated micro-irrigation fund will b set up by NABARD to achieve goal of 'Per Drop More Crop'.Initial corpus will be Rs 5,000 crore

*Mission Antyodaya to bring 1 crore households out of poverty and to make 50,000 Gram Panchayats poverty-free: FM Jaitley

*Propose to double the lending target of Pradhan Matri Mudra Yojana and set it up at Rs 2.44 lakh crore for 2017-18: FM Arun Jaitley. Read more

• Budget 2017 : India Union & Railway Budget 2017 News, Live Updates, Result & Highlights

Budget speech to be delivered as per schedule: Govt sources

There had been some confusion over presentation of the Budget following the death of MP E Ahamed

Budget 2017 India : Government and Parliament secretariat sources said the Budget speech by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley would be delivered according to schedule on Wednesday.

Amid confusion over whether the Parliament would be adjourned following the death of sitting member of Parliament E Ahamed, sources said the Budget presentation would not be postponed. Ahamed, who was an Indian Union Muslim League Lok Sabha member and former Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed, passed away early morning on Wednesday.. He had suffered a cardiac arrest at the time of President Pranab Mukherjee's address to the joint sitting of Parliament on Tuesday afternoon.

Government sources said there was needless confusion about the issue. Usually, the House proceedings are adjourned if a serving member passes away. But sources said there was no rule to this, and this was only a convention.

The Lok Sabha, therefore, will meet and pay its respects to the departed soul but the Budget presentation will go on as per schedule. All that the government needs to do is get half dozen parties on its side even if the Congress and others might protest.

The Congress is likely to protest what it has alleged to be the intent to keep the news of Ahamed's passing away under wraps. On Tuesday midnight, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and other leaders reached RML Hospital to complain that Ahamed's family member were not being allowed to meet him. Ahamed was declared dead a couple of hours later.

Live Blog : Cabinet meeting on Budget ends, FM to present Budget shortly