Budget 2018 News

Benchmark index BSE Sensex fell over 570 points to 35,328 on Friday, a day after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unveiled the Budget 2018. The decline came after the government proposed 10% Long-term Capital Gains (LTCG) tax on equity investments with gains of over ₹1 lakh. The NSE Nifty fell over 190 points to a low of 10,826.

Describing the Union Budget 2018-19 as "pragmatic", economist Arvind Panagariya on Thursday said that the coverage of 10 crore families for expenses up to ₹5 lakh under government-funded health care is the most significant programme. "The focus is on rural and agricultural economy but no populist schemes that are inconsistent with the country's long-term interest have been launched," he said.

Benchmark index BSE Sensex closed nearly 840 points down at 35,067 on Friday, a day after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unveiled the 2018 Union Budget. Stock markets took a hit after the government proposed 10% Long-Term Capital Gains (LTCG) tax on equity investments with gains of over ₹1 lakh. The NSE Nifty closed 256 points lower at 10,760.

Commenting on the Union Budget 2018, Yoga guru Ramdev said it would've been better to increase the non-taxable income limit to ₹5 lakh per annum. The non-taxable income limit remains at ₹2.5 lakh per annum as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced that personal income tax laws will not be changed this year. "This was a nation-building budget', Ramdev added.

The National Health Protection Scheme, dubbed 'Modicare', which provides health insurance to about 50% of India's population will reportedly require about ₹11,000 crore in central and state funding annually. The cost of insuring each family will be about ₹1,100. It is the world's largest government-funded healthcare programme and will provide ₹5 lakh annual cover to 10 crore poor families.

Slamming the BJP-led Centre for not allocating funds to Andhra Pradesh in the Budget, the ruling TDP state government has said, "We are going to declare war." The TDP, which is part of the NDA alliance, had demanded more funds for infrastructure development after Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were separated. The party will consider exiting the alliance, party leaders said.

The National Health Protection Scheme, dubbed 'Modicare', that aims to provide ₹5 lakh annual cover per family to 10 crore poor families, will be implemented from October 2. Announcing the 2018 Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had termed the plan as "the world's largest government-funded healthcare programme". The initiative will reportedly require ₹11,000 crore in state and central funding.

The combined market capitalisation of all companies listed on the BSE fell by ₹4.6 lakh crore on Friday, from about ₹153.1 lakh crore earlier. Benchmark index BSE Sensex closed nearly 840 points down at 35,067 and NSE Nifty closed 256 points lower. The crash came after the government announced its move to bring back Long-Term Capital Gains tax on equities.

The Budget 2018 has proposed a standard deduction of ₹40,000 for salaried people in place of existing transport allowance and medical reimbursement. With this, salaried taxpayers and pensioners will not be required to file any documents and bills to claim the standard deduction. The government did not make any changes to the personal income tax rates.

In the Union Budget 2018, the government has provided a standard deduction of ₹40,000 from salary income to employees. But it also took away existing annual transport allowance of ₹19,200 and ₹15,000 medical reimbursement. So, the net taxable income of employees under 60 years of age will be a reduction of ₹5,800 from salary income.

For every ₹1 the government plans to raise, 19 paise will come from borrowings and 70 paise will come from direct and indirect taxes in the financial year 2018-19. It also aims to make 8 paise from non-tax revenues like disinvestments. The government has budgeted 18 paise for interest payments and 9 paise for defence for every ₹1 it spends.

Economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg on Friday denied that the Union Budget presented a day earlier was the reason for benchmark index Sensex's crash of over 800 points. He added that there could be "some anxiety" that triggered the crash. He said the reasons for Sensex's biggest crash since November 2016 needed to be figured out.

Twitter India on Saturday said that it had recorded over 14 lakh posts related to the Budget, with healthcare being the most talked about topic followed by demonetisation, agriculture, and Personal Income Tax. It added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi emerged as the most mentioned personality on the platform during Budget conversations, followed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar has said financial resources won't be a constraint for the "game-changing" healthcare scheme introduced in the Budget. The government announced it would provide health insurance cover of ₹5 lakh to 10 crore poor families. Kumar added that the proposed 1% additional cess will yield ₹11,000 crore annually, which is enough to meet funding needs.

Nearly 2.53 lakh central government jobs have been generated in the country during the last two years, according to Budget 2018 data. Of this, about one lakh jobs were added in police departments. The estimated workforce of the central government establishments will be 35.05 lakh by March this year, as compared to 32.52 lakh in March 2016, it revealed.

Criticising the Union Budget 2018, former Finance Minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram has said that Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian is a "good doctor", but the NDA government is a "bad patient". He said the difference between the Economic Survey, prepared by Subramanian, and the Union Budget was a result of the uneasy relationship between the 'doctor' and 'patient'.

In the 2018 Budget, the government has halved investments in state-run firms under the Ministry of Heavy Industries to ₹437 crore for next fiscal from ₹883 crore in 2017-18. The original 2017-18 estimate for the current fiscal was also revised to ₹374 crore. Notably, the expenditure budget for BHEL has been slashed by nearly 40% to ₹225 crore in 2018-19.

Left parties in Andhra Pradesh have called for a state-wide bandh on February 8 to protest against the non-allocation of funds to the state in the Union Budget 2018. Stating that the Centre failed to allocate resources promised during the separation of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, CPI(M) leader P Madhu said funds were allocated only to poll-bound states.

Schools and colleges across Andhra Pradesh were shut as people took to the streets during the state-wide bandh called to protest the "insufficient funds" allotted to the state in Budget 2018. Bus services in several places were hit after protesters blocked highways and roads. The bandh was called by the Left parties and supported by the ruling Telugu Desam Party.

Defending the proposed imposition of 10% Long-term Capital Gain (LTCG) tax on equities, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said although the tax is unpopular, it is beneficial for the economy. Speaking during a discussion in the Lok Sabha, he said the tax aimed to correct the current inconsistent distribution of incentives which benefited rich entities and individuals more.