Union budget 2021 was presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (dated 1st Feb 2021). The budget has highlighted the tremendous emphasis on infra sectors and healthcare. Apart from that, an important list of announcements was made on the divestment front, including the upcoming IPO of Life Insurance Corporation.
Not only did the Finance Minister leave direct tax rates unchanged, so as to not overburden citizens, instead, but the ‘get-well’ budget also lay much-needed emphasis on the healthcare and infra sectors.
In case you missed Sitharaman’s 110-minute-long presentation, here are the highlights you need-
* No change in Income tax, no change in tax exemptions
* No tax returns for senior citizens, age 75 and above who have a pension and interest income
* Relaxation to NRIs- Rule to remove hardship of double taxation
* Pre-filing of returns- details of capital gains, dividend income, and interest income will be pre-filled in returns
* FY 22 budget based on six pillars, namely health and well-being, inclusive development human capital, innovation of R&D, physical and financial capital infrastructure, minimum government, maximum governance
* FY budget 22 estimate for health and being up 138% i.e, 2,23,846 crores
* 17,000 rural and 11,000 urban health and wellness centers to be set up
* 18,000 crore schemes to increase public transport in urban areas
* Rs.35,000 crore for Covid-19 Vaccine
* Contingency fund of India to be raised by 30,000 crores
* To tackle the problem of air pollution, 22,000 crores for 42 urban centers have been proposed
* 2.86 crore household tap connection to be established
* FY 22 allocation for railways for 1,10,055 crores
* 7 textile parks to be unveiled over 3 years
* 100 more cities to be added under city gas expansion
* Vehicles to go under fitness test after 20 years for personal vehicle and 15 years for commercial vehicles
* Highway work proposed in Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Assam
* 15,000 schools will be qualitatively strengthened, 100 new Sainik schools, central university in Leh
* NRIs to be allowed to set up one person’s company
* Privatisation of one general insurance PSU and IPO of LIC proposed
* Employee contribution not paid by employer will not be allowed as deduction
* The limit of reopening of assessment reduced from 6 years to 3 years
* Capital expenditure allocation is 5.5 lakh crores
* To provide 22,000 crores in FY22 for recapitalisation of public sector banks
* 300 crores allocated to Goa for infrastructure and human capital
Sources – Economic Times, Clear Tax, Indian express
