Union Budget 2017: How does it matter?

The Budget affects all the sectors and every individual in the country. The policies discussed mark the trajectory for the progress of the nation.

Expenditures to be made and revenue to be collected are planned in detail for the forthcoming year as well as the report card of the previous year is presented. Here is a brief summary of how the budget is going to affect us.
Education

Employment

Setting up of National Testing Agency to conduct entrance exams for higher education. CBSS and AICTE would be relieved of their administrative responsibilities and focus on academics.

DTH channels to link more than 350 online courses available on the Swayam platform to make high quality education accessible to students. 

Setting up of two new AIIMS institutes in Jharkhand and Gujarat. Steps to be taken to increase number of postgraduate seats in medical sciences.

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras (vocational training centres) to be extended to more than 600 districts across the country. Setting up 110 centres to specifically help youth get access to employment opportunities abroad. 
Model Shops and Establishment Bill to bring in additional opportunities for employment of women.

Skill Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion Programme (SANKALP) to be launched at a cost of Rs 4,000 crore. SANKALP will provide market relevant training to 3.5 crore youth.

Skill Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement (STRIVE) will be launched in 2017-18 at a cost of Rs 2,200 crore. Incredible India Campaign to be launched across the world to promote tourism and employment.

Digitisation

Promoting Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) app by introducing referral schemes for individuals and cashless schemes for merchants. 

A sum of Rs 10,000 crore to be allocated for Bharat Net project to be done for providing high-speed broadband in fiscal year 2018 (period for accounting).

A merchant-enabled Aadhaar payment system to be launched shortly, especially for those who do not have debit cards, mobile wallets, or mobile phones.

A ‘Digi Gaon’ initiative launched to provide telemedicine, education and skills through digital technology.

Cyber security of financial sector to be maintained by computer-based emergency response system.

Expenditure

Total expenditure of government in Fiscal year 2017-18 is at Rs 21.47 lakh crore.

An estimate of Rs 3.96 lakh crore is to be spent on infrastructure — that is 10 per cent higher than the Rs 3.58 lakh crore spent this year. The Finance minister said infrastructure was the thrust area of the government for efficiency, productivity and quality of life and the approach was to spend more on infrastructure development. He termed railways, roads, and rivers as the “lifeline” of the country.

The budget for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was hiked to Rs 48, 000 crore. A 24 per cent increase in total allocation for rural, agriculture, and allied sectors to Rs 1,87, 223 crore.

Mission Antyodaya has been set up to bring 1 crore households out of poverty and to make 50,000 Gram Panchayats poverty-free.

Tax

The government halved the tax rate on incomes between Rs 250, 000 and Rs 5,00,000 to 5 per cent.

The companies with annual turnover of up to Rs 50 crore will have to pay 5 per cent less tax. This will make MSME (micro, small, and medium enterprises) sector more competitive compared to larger companies as 96 per cent of the companies will be benefitted by lower tax.

Ease of investments

The government abolished the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) and decided that foreign investment proposals requiring government approval would be cleared by the ministries concerned. Over 90 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) proposal have come through the automatic route because of the measures taken by the government in regard to FDI policy, thus the purpose of FIPB is lost. 

Further, liberalisation of FDI) policy is under consideration and the announcements regarding the same are to be made.

Honesty

Parties can receive donations in cheque or digitally from their donors only. Also, the maximum donation through cash from a single source has been brought down to Rs 2,000 from Rs 20, 000. This step has been taken to bring down funding through black money.

All cash transactions above Rs 3 lakh beginning April 1, 2017 is banned on the recommendation of the Special Investigation Team on black money set up by the Supreme Court.

The FM proposed to confiscate the domestic holdings of criminals and financial offenders who have escaped the jurisdiction of Indian authorities, which means to seize assets of offenders, who flee abroad.