India Budget 2019 News

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her maiden Budget address laid out a clear road map to make India a $5 trillion economy by 2024.

FM Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said that the Union Budget 2019 envisions a 'New India' and aims to make the country a USD 5 trilion economy.

The government will examine suggestions of further opening up of FDI in aviation, media, AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics) and insurance sector in consultation with stakeholders,” the FM said.

Total Defence Allocation (Rs 4,31,010.79 crore), including Defence Pension, accounts for 15.47 per cent of the total Central Government expenditure for the Financial Year 2019-20.

The Finance Minister also said that the government has already moved to the GST council to lower the GST rate on electric vehicles from 12% to 5%.  

Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman said in Parliament today that “the role of women is a very sweet story” in India’s growth particularly in the rural economy while presenting the Union Budget 2019-20.

Start-ups and their investors who file requisite declarations and provide information in their returns will not be subjected to any kind of scrutiny in respect of valuations of share premiums, Nirmala Sitharaman said.

Nirmala Sitharaman also proposed to move to an electronic invoice system wherein invoice details will be captured in a central system at the time of issuance in Union Budget 2019.

Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Stand Up India Scheme has been extended up to the year 2025, while presenting the Union Budget 2019-20 in the Parliament today. 

While members of the government and the BJP showered praises on the budget, members of the opposition expectedly criticised Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget speech.

Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to enhance the surcharge by 3% for people earning between Rs 2 to Rs 5 crore per annum. And for those earning more than Rs 5 crore, the rate has been proposed to be 7%.

Piyush Goyal thanked Nirmala Sitharaman for “strengthening the resolve of the Railways”.

Nirmala Sitharaman said reduction in corporate tax rate will cover 99.3% of the companies. Now only 0.7% of companies will remain outside this rate.

Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Union Budget 2019-20 in Parliament today said that government aims to bring greater ease of living in the lives of its citizens through technology.

Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government recognises that investment-driven growth requires access to low-cost capital and It is estimated that India requires investments averaging Rs 20 lakh crore every year.

Nirmala Sitharaman presenting Budget 2019 said NPAs of commercial banks have reduced by over 1 lakh crore over the last year, record recovery of over 4 lakh crore due to IBC and other measures has been effected over the last four years.

Government has announced its intention to invest Rs100 lakh crores in infrastructure over the next five years, Nirmala Sitharaman stated.

While NSIL will be a public sector enterprise, it will aid ISRO to tackle the benefits of its research and development, the FM said in her budget speech.

Nirmala Sitharaman in the Budget 2019 speech further informed that Government will undertake strategic sale of PSUs and continue to do consolidation of PSUs in the non-financial space as well.

In order to further simplify the GST return filing process, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that taxpayers having an annual turnover of less than Rs 5 Crore shall file only quarterly returns. Presenting Union Budget 2019 at the Parliament on Friday, she said the threshold exemption limit for a supplier of goods is proposed to be enhanced from Rs 20 lakh to an amount exceeding Rs 40 lakh.