Jaitley acts tough on black money, imposes 300% penalty for concealing income

Budget 2015-2016

Budget Highlights

* Law against Benami property in fight against black money* Quoting PAN essential in property transactions
* Splitting of transaction not to be permitted
* Tax regime to be rationalised
* Applicability of General Avoidance Rules (GAR) to be deferred by two years in view of problems faced in its implementation
* Non-Plan expenditure in 2015-16 estimated at 1,312,200 crore; Plan expenditure estimated at Rs.465,277 crore
* Tax collection in 2015-16 estimated at Rs.1,449,490 crore
* Corporate tax to be reduced to 25 percent from 30 percent in four years
* Rigorous imprisonment of up to 10 years for concealing income* Prevention of Money Laundering Act to be amended to provide for forfeiture of property in India if the one abroad cannot be attached
* Exemption to individual tax payers to continue
* In last nine months several steps taken to effectively deal with problem of black money
* Comprehensive new law to be brought against black money
* New structure to be put in place in banking sector for seamless integration of data
* Adequate provision for defence with Rs.246,727 crore earmarked this year
* Fully IT-based student-help facility for needy students
* Eastern states to be given opportunity to develop faster. Special boost to Bihar and West Bengal as in the case of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
* Good progress in DMIC corridor and other infra-projects. Rs.1,200 crore earmarked and additional funds if pace of work picks up on ongoing projects
* Procurement law to be drawn up to ensure transparency and remove corruption
* Centenary of Deen Dayal Upadhyay to be celebrated; committee for this to be set up soon
* During 2015-16 AIIMS-like institutes to be set up in Jamu and Kashmir, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh; Bihar to get second AIIMS-like institution
* Karnataka to get an IIT; Indian School of Mines in Dhanbad to be upgraded to IIT
* Good progress being made on Digital India
* To discourage transactions in cash, Rupee debit card to incentivise credit transactions
* In line with ‘Act East Policy’, steps to catalyse investment in this sector through a project development company to oversee investments in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam
* Tourism has increased after Visa on Arrival introduced for 43 countries. This facility to be increased to 150 countries in different stages
* Public Debt Management Agency to be created to strengthen the bond market
* Gold Monetisation Scheme to be introduced; sovereign gold bonds to be introduced; working on developing Indian gold coin with Ashok Chakra on face
* Vision of making India cashless society
* Foreign Investment in alternative investment funds to be permitted
* Ports in public sector to be encouraged to utilise land under their control
* Make India investment-destination by streamlining permission procedures
* Five ultra-mega power projects each of 4,000 MW to be set up
* MGNREGA allocation to be enhanced by Rs.5,000 crore, if additional funds available
* Integrated education and livelihood scheme to be launched
* “The Everlasting Flame” exhibition on Parsis to be launched
* National investment and infrastructure fund to be launched with corpus of Rs.20,000 crore to generate more funds
* Innovation initiative to be launched in NITI Aayog in the name of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
* Government committed to increasing access of people to the banking system
* Universal social security system for all Indians, especially poor and disadvantaged sections
* Atal Pension Yojna for economically disadvantaged
* PPF and EPF corpus to be utilised for senior citizens’ welfare fund
* Physical aids and assisting devices for physically challenged senior citizens
* Main challenges: increasing agricultural production; increasing investment in infrastructure; with manufacturing declining, Make in India will create jobs; cooperative federalism
* Agriculture credit targetted at Rs.8.5 lakh crore
* Rural jobs scheme to get Rs.34,699 crore; Every poor to get a job
* To work with NITI Aayog for creating a National Agricultural Market
* Need well-targeted system for subsidies.
* Direct transfer of subsidy to LPG consumers
* Appeal to well-off consumers to surrender subsidised LPG connections
* Organic farm schemes of agriculture ministry to be supported
* ‘Per drop More crop’ scheme for better irrigation
* Three achievements – Jan Dhan Yojna, coal auctions, Swachh Bharat
* Two more gamechanging reforms: Goods and Services Tax, JAM trinity (Jan Dhan Yojna, Aadhar, Mobile number) to ensure transparency
* Our achievement to conquer inflation, CPI inflation at five percent by year-end
* GDP growth at 7.4 percent in 2014-15 and at 8-8.5 percent in 2015-16; double-digit growth feasible
* We are in an economic environment far more positive than in the recent past
* Undertaken several significant steps to energise the Indian economy in last nine months
* India’s chance to fly
* Budget proposals lay down roadmap for economic growth.

Budget 2015: Smoking, eating out, air travel to be costlier

PTI
New Delhi, Feb 28

Smoking and consumption of other tobacco items will be more expensive, while an increase in service tax rate would make costlier a whole lot of other activities including air travel, eating out and paying bills.
Continuing the trend set by his many predecessors, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday came down heavily on smokers and tobacco consumers with a steep increase in excise rate in tax proposals in Budget 2015-16.
While increase in service tax rate to 14% would make a whole lot of things more expensive, he spared the common man from price hikes on many commonly used day-to-day items by keeping the duties unchanged.
Those that would turn cheaper include leather footwear, locally made mobiles, computer tablets, microwave ovens, peanut butter, packaged fruits, ambulance service and agarbattis.
Following is a list of what will be cheaper and costlier:
Expensive
• Cigarettes and other tobacco products
• Completely built imported commercial vehicles
• Cement •Aerated, flavoured drinks and packaged water
• Plastic bags and sacks
• Business and executive class air travel
• Visit to amusement and theme park
• Music concerts
• Liquor, chit fund and lottery
Cheaper
• Leather footwear priced above Rs.1,000 per pair
• Locally made mobile phones, LED/LCD panels, LED lights and LED Lamps
• Solar water heater
• Pacemakers, ambulance and ambulance services
• Computer tablets
• Agarbattis
• Microwave ovens
• Refrigerator compressors
• Peanut butter, packaged fruits and vegetables
• Visit to museum, zoo and national park.
Petrol, diesel prices hiked by at least Rs3/litre
Petrol will be costlier by Rs3.18/litre and diesel by Rs3.09/litre
Indian Oil Corp said it would raise the retail price of petrol by 5.5% and that of diesel by 6.6% from Sunday, as global prices of the two fuels have risen since the last revision. Retail prices of petrol will be raised by Rs3.18 a litre and that of diesel by Rs3.09 a litre, it said in a statement on Saturday.
Prices may vary in different cities due to local taxes and levies. India’s three state-controlled fuel retailers: IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd, tend to move their prices together. Brent crude prices on Saturday rose $2.53 to $62.58 a barrel. February’s 18% gain was the biggest monthly percentage rise since May 2009.