The following are the sector wise highlights of Union Budget 2015-16 presented by Arun Jaitley in Parliament today.
Agriculture
[] Major steps take to address the two major factoRs critical to agricultural production, that of soil and water.
[] ‘Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana’ to be fully supported.
[] ‘Pradhanmantri Gram Sinchai Yojana’ to provide ‘Per Drop More Crop’.
[] Rs 5,300 crore to support micro-irrigation, wateRs hed development and the ‘Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana’. States urged to chip in.
[] Rs 25,000 crore in 2015-16 to the corpus of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) set up in NABARD; Rs 15,000 crore for Long Term Rural Credit Fund; Rs 45,000 crore for Short Term Co-operative Rural Credit Refinance Fund; and Rs 15,000 crore for Short Term RRB Refinance Fund.
[] Target of Rs 8.5 lakh crore of agricultural credit during the year 2015-16.
[] Focus on improving the quality and effectiveness of activities under MGNREGA.
[] Need to create a National Agriculture Market for the benefit farmeRs , which will also have the incidental benefit of moderating price rises. Government to work with the States, in NITI, for the creation of a Unified National Agriculture Market.
Funding the Unfunded
[] Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank, with a corpus of Rs 20,000 crores, and credit guarantee corpus of Rs 3,000 crores to be created.
[] In lending, priority will be given to SC/ST enterprises.
[]MUDRA Bank will be responsible for refinancing all Micro-finance Institutions which are in the business of lending to such small entities of business through a Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana.
[] A Trade Receivables discounting System (TReDS) which will be an electronic platform for facilitating financing of trade receivables of MSMEs to be established.
[] Comprehensive Bankruptcy Code of global standards to be brought in fiscal 2015-16 towards ease of doing business.
[] Postal network with 1,54,000 points of presence spread across villages to be used for increasing access of the people to the formal financial system.
[] NBFCs registered with RBI and having asset size of Rs 500 crore and above may be considered for notifications as ‘Financial Institution’ in terms of the SARFAESI Act, 2002. From Jan Dhan to Jan Suraksha
[] Government to work towards creating a functional social security system for all Indians, specially the poor and the under-privileged.
[] Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojna to cover accidental death risk of Rs 2 Lakh for a premium of just Rs 12 per year.
[] Atal Pension Yojana to provide a defined pension, depending on the contribution and the period of contribution. Government to contribute 50% of the beneficiaries’ premium limited to Rs 1,000 each year, for five yeaRs , in the new accounts opened before 31st December 2015.
[] Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana to cover both natural and accidental death risk of Rs 2 lakh at premium of Rs 330 per year for the age group of 18-50.
[] A new scheme for providing Physical Aids and Assisted Living Devices for senior citizens, living below the poeverty line.
[] Unclaimed deposits of about Rs 3,000 crores in the PPF, and approximately Rs 6,000 crores in the EPF corpus. The amounts to be appropriated to a corpus, which will be used to subsidize the premiums on these social security schemes through creation of a Senior Citizen Welfare Fund in the Finance Bill.
[] Government committed to the on-going schemes for welfare of SCs, STs and Women Infrastructure
[] Sharp increase in outlays of roads and railways. Capital expenditure of public sector units to also go up.
[] National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), to be established with an annual flow of Rs 20,000 crores to it.
[] Tax free infrastructure bonds for the projects in the rail, road and irrigation sectoRs .
[] PPP mode of infrastructure development to be revisited and revitalised.5
[] Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) to be established in NITI to provide Innovation Promotion Platform involving academicians, and drawing upon national and international experiences to foster a culture of innovation , research and development. A sum of Rs 150 crore will be earmarked.
[] Concerns of IT industries for a more liberal system of raising global capital, incubation facilities in our Centres of Excellence, funding for seed capital and growth, and ease of Doing Business etc. would be addressed for creating hundreds of billion dolla in value.
[] (SETU) Self-Employment and Talent Utilization) to be established as Techno-financial, incubation and facilitation programme to support all aspects of start-up business. Rs 1000 crore to be set aside as initial amount in NITI.
[] Ports in public sector will be encouraged, to corporatize, and become companies under the Companies Act to attract investment and leverage the huge land resources.
[] An expert committee to examine the possibility and prepare a draft legislation where the need for multiple prior permission can be replaced by a pre-existing regulatory mechanism. This will facilitate India becoming an investment destination.
[] 5 new Ultra Mega Power Projects, each of 4000 MW, in the Plug-and-Play mode. Financial Market
[] Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) bringing both external and domestic borrowings under one roof to be set up this year.
[] Enabling legislation, amending the Government Securities Act and the RBI Act included in the Finance Bill, 2015.
[] Forward Markets commission to be merged with SEBI.
[] Section-6 of FEMA to be amended through Finance Bill to provide control on capital flows as equity will be exercised by Government in consultation with RBI.
[] Proposal to create a Task Force to establish sector-neutral financial redressal agency that will address grievance against all financial service provide.
[] India Financial Code to be introduced soon in Parliament for consideration.
[] Vision of putting in place a direct tax regime, which is internationally competitive on rates, without exemptions.
[] Government to bring enabling legislation to allow employee to opt for EPF or New Pension Scheme. For employee’s below a certain threshold of monthly income, contribution to EPF to be option, without affecting employees’ contribution.
Monetising Gold
[] Gold monetisation scheme to allow the depositoRs of gold to earn interest in their metal accounts and the jewelleRs to obtain loans in their metal account to be introduced.
[] Sovereign Gold Bond, as an alternative to purchasing metal gold scheme to be developed.6
[] Commence work on developing an Indian gold coin, which will carry the Ashok Chakra on its face.
Investment
[] Foreign investments in Alternate Investment Funds to be allowed.
[] Distinction between different types of foreign investments, especially between foreign portfolio investments and foreign direct investments to be done away with. Replacement with composite caps.
[] A project development company to facilitate setting up manufacturing hubs in CMLV countries, namely, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam. Safe India
[] Rs 1000 crores to the Nirbhaya Fund. Tourism
[] Resources to be provided to start work along landscape restoration, signage and interpretation centres, parking, access for the differently abled , visitoRs ’ amenities, including securities and toilets, illumination and plans for benefiting communities around them at various heritage sites.
[] Visas on arrival to be increased to 150 countries in stages. Green India
[] Target of renewable energy capacity revised to 175000 MW till 2022, comprising 100000 MW Solar, 60000 MW Wind, 10000 MW Biomass and 5000 MW Small Hydro.
[] A need for procurement law to contain malfeasance in public procurement.
[] Proposal to introduce a public Contracts (resolution of disputes) Bill to streamline the institutional arrangements for resolution of such disputes.
[] Proposal to introduce a regulatory reform Bill that will bring about a cogency of approach across various sectoRs of infrastructure Skill India
[] Less than 5% of our potential work force gets formal skill training to be employable. A national skill mission to consolidate skill initiatives spread accross several ministries to be launched.
[] Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gramin Kaushal Yojana to enhance the employability of rural youth.
[] A Committee for 100th birth celebration of Shri Deen Dayalji Upadhyay to be announced soon.
[] A student Financial Aid Authority to administer and monitor the front-end all scholaRs hip as well Educational Loan Schemes, through the Pradhan Mantri Vidya Lakshmi Karyakram.7
[] An IIT to be set up in Karnataka and Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad to be upgraded in to a full-fledged IIT.
[] New All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) to be set up in J&K, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Assam. Another AIIMS like institutions to be set up in Bihar.
[] A post graduate institute of Horticulture Research & Education is to be set up in Amritsar.
[] 3 new National Institute of Pharmaceuticals Education and Research in Maharashtra, Rajasthan & Chattisgarh and one institute of Science and Education Research is to be set up in Nagaland & Orissa each.
[] An autonomous Bank Board Bureau to be set up to improve the governance of public sector bank.
[] The National Optical Fibre Network Programme (NOFNP) to be further speeded up by allowing willing states to execute on reimbuRs ement of cost basis.
[] Special assistance to Bihar & West Bengal to be provided as in the case of Andhra Pradesh.
[] Government is committed to comply with all the legal commitments made to AP & Telengana at the time of their re-organisation.
[] Inspite of large increase in devolution to state sufficient fund allocated to education, health, rural development, housing, urban development, women and child development, water resources & cleaning of Ganga.
[] Part of Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC); Ahmedabad-Dhaulera Investment region and Shendra-Bidkin Industrial Park are now in a position to start work on basic infrastructure.
[] Made in India and the Buy and the make in India policy are being carefully puRs ued to achieve greater self-sufficiency in the area of defence equipment including air-craft.
[] The fiRs t phase of GIFT to become a reality very soon. Appropriate regulations to be issued in March.