In the Budget 2009 of the Government of India Finance Minister talked of the increasing size of Indian budget with planned expenditure for 2009-10 expected to cross a record Rs 1 Million Crores; he also alluded to the fact that 1951 Budget was a mere Rs 193 Crores!
Some quick facts
IT folks can be happy; Tax Holiday extended, but just for one more year; hardware duty / excise rationalized; specific mention was made about set-top box and LDC TV; excise duty / service tax anomalies on software to go; Nandan Nilekani’s UID Authority gets Rs 120 Crores in the year 2009-10
Education & Research got a bounty; Rs 2,000 Crores increase for the department (compared to Interim Budget); IIT and NIT get Rs 2,400 Crores; R & D work gets 150% tax incentive; donation to educational institutes get tax benefit
Everyone has reason to smile; no increase in personal income tax; marginal increase in exemption (Rs 15,000 for everyone, some more for women); 10% surcharge goes
Industry folks too can be happy; no increase in corporate tax; Fringe Benefit Tax goes; the messy tax was costing a lot on implementation; people will save headache and money!
Infrastructure gets a big boost; NHAI (roads), JNNRUM (urban infrastructure) get big jump; in fact, the Budget speech first talked of infrastructure at length
Rural folks get lot of importance; NREGA (Rural Unemployment dole) goes to Rs 39,000 Crores; Rural Roads, Rural Health, Rural Insurance, Rural Housing & Rural Electricity get huge increase in budgetary support
Welfare ministries get more than due attention: SC/ST, women welfare, minorities affairs get big push
Armed forces finally get some attention; retired Jawans to get a fair pension
Finally, there is enough politics; donation to political parties get a tax benefit; States of Maharashtra and West Bengal (Finance Minister’s home State) get extra allocation
(I missed my Delhi flight; my driver had gone to Mysore; I decided to work from home; listened to the 120-minute long Budget Speech; made some notes; the blog entries are based on that; I have specifically not included many figures as I did not take notes except to Twitter 21 times!)
