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India Budget 2008

Budget 2008 or India budget 2008 will be announced on 29th February, 2008. The wish list prepared by various individuals from various sectors have expressed their opinion about their respective fields. However, it is likely that the center stage will be occupied by taxes.

Prior to the budget, which is held every year, business owners or corporates suggest possible changes in the economy. One may call it the “wishlist”. The representatives from different industries have pinned their hopes on a possible reduction in personal as well as corporate income tax rates in the forthcoming India Budget 2008.

Budget Highlights 2008

Budget 2008: Declarations on Health Sector

The annual Indian budget of 2008 has been presented today by the honorable Finance Minister Mr. P. Chidambaram. A lot of changes have been made in the health sector. Here are the major declarations on the health sector:

* The allocation that is provided to the health and educational sector has been increased to 20%
* The excise duties on the anti-AIDS drugs have been brought down
* The sanitation program would receive Rs. 1200 crores
* The customs duties on some of the bulk-drugs have been brought down to 5%
* A desalination plant worth Rs. 300 crores would be set up around Chennai.
* 17 lakh families of weavers have been included in the Health Insurance program
* The allocation provided to the National Rural Health Mission has been increased by 15%.
* Life Insurance Corporation would provide coverage to all the women Self-help Groups that are connected to banks
* All the people working in the unorganized sector would receive health coverage of Rs. 30,000.
* Rs. 12,050 crores would be allotted to strengthen the health services in the villages

Budget 2008: Highlights on Education

The General Indian budget 2008 has been presented today by the honorable finance minister Mr. P. Chidambaram. Education has been one of the main issues in the Indian budget 2008. The Union Budget of 2008 has brought about the following beneficial changes in the educational sector of India:

* Education has been at the center of the social reforms
* The allocation for the health and educational sectors has gone up by 20%.
* The budget allocation for the Mid-day Meal Program has been worth Rs. 8000 crores.
* Three new IITs would be set up in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar
* The Indian budget has provided Rs. 34,400 crores to the educational sector in India
* 16 new central universities would be set up
* The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan has been provided Rs. 13,100 crore in the budget
* Now the upper primary classes would be able to get mid-day meals
* 410 new Vidyalayas would be set up in the villages
* Three new IIScs would be set up in Trivandrum and Bhopal.
* There would be Navodiya Vidyalayas in 6000 districts.
* Rs. 4,554 crores has been allocated for the secondary education scheme
* 6000 new model schools would be established.
* The 22 Sainik schools would receive Rs. 44 crores
* There would be scholarships for science and research

Major Declarations on Taxation

The Indian Union Budget 2008 has been presented today by the honorable finance minister of India, Mr. P. Chidambaram. The matter of taxation has been one of the major areas of discussion.
Following are the major declarations concerning the tax structure that have been made in the Union Budget 2008:

* The tax exemption limit has been hiked from Rs. 1,10,000 to Rs. 1,50,000

* The tax exemption limit for women has been increased from Rs. 1,45,000 to 1,80,000

* The rate of taxation for the income bracket from Rs. 1,50,000 to 3,00,000 is supposed to be 10%

* The rate of taxation for the income bracket from Rs. 3,00,000 to Rs. 5,00,000 is supposed to be 20%

* Those who earn more than Rs. 5 lakhs on an annual basis would have to pay taxes at the rate of 30%

* The Exemption limit for the senior citizens is supposed to be raised from Rs. 1,95,000 to 2,25,000

* The General CENVAT rate on the common products is supposed to be brought down from 16% to 14%

* The excise duties on paper and paper goods would be lowered

* The excise duties on the pharmaceutical products would be lowered to 14%

* Those who are paying medical insurance expenses on behalf of their parents would be eligible for tax exemption

* Taxes on short-term capital gains have increased by 1.5 per cent

* The rates of corporate taxes remain the same

* The corporate surcharge taxes remain the same

* Unbranded petrol would be charged at the rate of 1.35 per litre

* Henceforth, there would be no excise duties levied on set top boxes

* Unbranded diesel would have an excise duty of Rs 4.6 per litre

* For every metric ton of cement clinkers Rs. 450 would be levied as excise duties

* As per the finance minister, the proposals of direct taxes are supposed to be revenue neutral

* The rates of taxes on filtered and unfiltered cigarettes have been increased

Excise and Custom
The Union Finance Minister Mr. P Chidambaram has presented the Union Budget of India for the financial year 2008-2009. Growth rate of more than 8% has been in tandem for the last three years.

The Finance Minister of India announced that the peak customs duty for the financial year 2008-2009 would remain unchanged. The minister further said that no customs duty on steel scrap to be charged for the financial year 2008-2009. Excise duty on pharmaceutical products has been reduced from 16% to 8%.

The excise duties on two wheelers and 3 wheelers have been reduced from 16% to12 %. The refrigeration devices and set-top boxes for televisions would get complete waiver on excise duties. Further, 4% reduction on water purification devices has been announced in the Union Budget 2008-2009.

Furthermore, the excise duties on anti-AIDs drugs have also been reduced. Reduction of excise duties has been made on paper and paper products, buses and chassis. The excise duty on small cars would be 14%. The customs duty on few bulk drugs has been curtailed to 5%. The custom duty on crude sulphur would be 2%.

India’s Union Budget 2008-09 is Agri-Friendly

India’s Union Budget 2008-09 presented by the Finance Minister today is regarded as an agriculture friendly budget. Various measures announced for the sector is expected to solve ongoing problems and will lead towards overall development of the country’s economy.

The Finance Minister has announced relief for both small and marginal farmers. The move will incur a total cost of Rs 60,000 crore to the Government.

Loans on agriculture provided by scheduled commercial banks, RRBs and cooperative credit institutions up to March 31, 2007 and overdue as of December 31 that year will come under the waiver scheme for addressing the problems of indebtedness of farmers.

The loan waiver scheme is estimated to give benefits to three crore small and medium farmers.

Increase in Tax Exemption limit in Union Budget 2008-09

Finance Minister P Chidambaram today raised the exemption limit from Rs 1.10 lakh to 1.50 lakh for all individual assesses and from Rs 1.45 lakh to 1.80 lakh for women assesses and for the senior citizens from 1.95 lakh to 2.25 lakh.

Hike in the basic limit from Rs 1.1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh will make a tax saving of Rs 4,000 for individuals, Rs 6,500 for women assesses and Rs 6,000 for senior citizens.

New tax rates for various income levels are as follows:

* 10% on income of Rs 1.50-3 lakh;
* 20% on income of Rs 3-5 lakh;
* 30% on income above Rs 5 lakh

Industrial Focus in Budget 2008

The Union Budget 2008-2009 has been presented today by the Union Finance Minister, Mr. P. Chidambaram at the Parliament. The Budget was mixed in nature with the focus on education, agricultural sector, rural development and development of industries.

The spotlight on the industries was received well by the sector with a mixed feeling. The growth of the manufacturing industries sector has been less in comparison to the growth of the other industries.

The budget allocated Rs 8000 crores as national fund towards the development of power-based programs and for reforms pertaining to transmission and distribution. A funding of Rs. 1200 crores has been assigned to the National Housing Bank for refinancing in the corporate sector.

The Information Technology Industry would get Rs.100 crores for creating a network between the knowledge institutions. The outlay pertaining to Technology Upgradation Fund has been increased. The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) is asked to set up Risk Capital Fund. The Indian Technological Industries are to be upgraded fast and Rs. 750 crores have been allocated for that purpose.

According to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the budget has been as per the expectation and the industrial sector would be benefited by it.