Nirmala Sitharaman Budget 2020 Speech: Full Text
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presenting Budget 2020 in Parliament on Saturday. The most important highlight of Budget 2020 was the introduction of new slabs and reduced tax rate for different slabs. The new tax regime will be optional and the taxpayers will be given the choice to either remain in the old regime with exemptions and deductions or opt for the new reduced tax rate without those exemptions, she said in the Lok Sabha while unveiling the Budget 2020-21.
NIRMALA SITHARAMAN BUDGET SPEECH: FULL TEXT
With renewed vigour, under PM's leadership, we commit ourselves to present the people of India with all humility and dedication. People have reposed faith in our economic policy. Our people should be gainfully employed, our businesses should be healthy, for all minorities, women and people from SCs and STs, this Budget aims to fulfill their aspirations. Our government has brought a paradigm shift in governance-structural reform and inclusive growth. Fundamentals are strong, ensuring macroeconomic stability. Inflation was contained, banks cleaned up and recapitalized. Companies provided exit through IBC. Steps for formalisation of economy were taken up. GST has been the most historic. GST has resulted in efficiency gains in transport and logistics sector, inspector raj has vanished, it has benefitted MSME. Consumers have got a annual benefit of 1 lakh crore rupees by GST. During the maturing of GST, it faced some challenges. GST Council has been proactive in resolving issues during the transition. 40 crore returns have been filed, 800 crore invoices uploaded, 105 crore e-way bills generated, simpilified new return being introduced from April 1, 2020. Achievements of the Modi government: Welfare schemes with Direct Benefit Transfer embedded, sanitation and water as provision of basic needs, health care through Ayushman Bharat, clean energy through Ujjwala and solar power, financial inclusion, credit support, insurance and pension schemes for vulnerable sections of people, digital penetration with broadband and UPI, affordable housing through PMAY. We shall strive to bring Ease Of Living to every citizen. Two cross cutting developments: Proliferation of technologies such as analytics, machine learning, AI, bioinformatics. No. of people in productive age group at its highest. This combination is special to contemporary India. Efforts we have made in the last five years and the enthusiasm and energy of our youth are the ignition of our growth. Budget woven on three threads: Aspirational India, Economic Development for All, Ours shall be a caring society. Committed to doubling farmers' income by 2022. Budget 2020 is to boost the income of people and enhance their purchasing power. Farm markets need to be liberalized, farming need to be made more competitive, handholding of farm-based activities need to be provided, sustainable cropping patterns and more tech needed. Will encourage state governments who implement following model laws: Model Agricultural Land Leasing Act of 2016, Model Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing Act of 2017, Model Agricultural Produce and Livestock Contract Farming and Services Promotion and Facilitation Act of 2018. Comprehensive measures for 100 water-stressed districts being proposed. Central govt's debt has come down to 48.7% in March, 2019 from 52.2% in March, 2014. Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evem Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) to be expanded to provide 20 lakh farmers in setting up standalone solar pumps. Farmers who have fallow or barren land will be helped to set up solar power generation units and also sell surplus power to the solar grid and also make living out of even barren land. We will encourage balanced use of all fertilizers, a necessary step to change the incentive regime which encourages excessive use of chemical fertilizers. Warehouses will be set up, viability gap funding to be provided to set up warehouses. Indian Railways will set up Kisan Rail through PPP arrangement, for transportation of perishable goods. Krishi UDAN will be launched by Minsitry of Civil Aviation on international and national routes, improving value realization in North East and tribal districts. For better marketing and export, supporting states will focus on one product for one district, so that high focus is given at district level for horticulture to gain momentum. Financing on Negotiable Warehousing Receipts to be integrated with e- National Agricultural Market. ABARD Refinancing Scheme to be further expanded, agri credit target for the year 2020-21 has been set at 15 lakh crore rupees. Milk processing capacity to be doubled by 2025. Framework for development, management and conservation of marine fishery resources to be put in place. Fish production to be raised to 200 lakh tonnes by 2022-23. Youth and fishery extension work to be enabled by rural youth as Sagar Mitras, forming 500 fish farmer producing organizations. Will further expand on SHGs for alleviation of poverty. 2.83 lakh crore rupees allocated for agriculture and allied activities, irrigation and rural development. Viability gap funding window to be set up to cover hospitals, with priority given to aspirational districts that don't have hospitals empanelled under Ayushman Bharat. Our government is committed to ODF Plus, in order to sustain ODF behaviour and to ensure no one is left behind. Total allocation for Swachh Bharat is around 12,300 crore rupees for this year. 3.6 lakh crore rupees has been approved for Jal Jeevan Mission. New Education Policy to be announced soon. External commercial borrowings and FDI to be leveraged to improve the education system. Urban local bodies across the country to provide internships for young engineers for a period of up to one year. Degree-level full-fledged online education programme to be offered by institutes in top 100 in National Institutional Ranking Framework. IND-SAT exam to be held in African and Asian countries, for benchmarking foreign candidates who wish to study in India. Budget 2020 provides an additional Rs 69,000 crore for the health sector. Will expand Jan Aushadhi Kendras in all districts of country to provide medicines at affordable rates. A medical college to be attached to a district hospital in PPP mode, viability gap funding to be set up for setting up such medical colleges. 99,300 crore rupees to be provided for education sector in 2020-21 and 3,000 crore rupees for skill development. Investment Clearance Cell to set up through a portal, will provide end-to-end facilitation, support and information on land banks. Scheme focussed on encouraging manufacture of mobile phones, electronic equipment and semiconductor packaging to be introduced. National Technical Textiles Mission to be introduced, with a four-year implementation period, with an outlay of 1,480 crore rupees. To achieve higher export credit, a new scheme being launched which provides higher insurance cover, reduced premium for small exporters and simplified procedure for claim settlements. 27,300 crore rupees for development of industry and commerce. Project Preparation Facility to be set up for preparation of infrastructure projects, actively involving young engineers and management graduates. National Logistics Policy will soon be released, creating single window e-logistics market. Large solar power capacity to be set up alongside rail tracks, on land owned by Railways. More Tejas-type trains to connect iconic destinations. 100 more airports to be developed by 2024 to support the UDAN scheme. 1.7 lakh crore rupees to be provided for transport infrastructure in the coming financial year. I urge all states and UTs to replace conventional energy meters by pre-paid smart meters in 3 years, this will give consumers the freedom to choose supplier and rate as per their requirements. 22,000 crore rupees to be provided to power and renewable energy sector in 2020-21. National Gas Grid to be expanded from 16,200 km to 27,000 km; reforms to be introduced to deepen gas markets, enable ease of transactions and transparent price recovery. Soon, policy for private sector to build Data Centre Parks throughout the country; our vision is that all public institutions be provided with digital connectivity. Fibre to Home connections under Bharat Net will be provided to 1 lakh gram panchayats this year itself, 6000 crore rupees provided for Bharat Net. 8,000 crore rupees over five years to be provided for quantum technologies and applications. Beti Bachao Beti Padhao has given tremendous results, Gross Enrolment Ratio is now higher for girls than for boys at all levels. 35,600 crore rupees for nutrition-related programmes in 2020-21. 28,600 crore rupees provided for programmes which are specific to women. 85,000 crore rupees for Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes in 2020-21. 53,700 crore rupees for Scheduled Tribes. Enhanced allocation of 9,500 crore rupees for Senior citizens and Divyangs. Indian Institute of Heritage and Conservation to be established under Ministry fo Culture. Five archaeological sites to be developed as iconic sites. 3,150 crore rupees to be provided for Ministry of Culture in 2020-21. Parameters and incentives to be provided to states who take measures for cleaner air in cities above 1 million population - 4,400 crore rupees allocated for this. Taxpayer charter to be instituted in the charter, a part of our statutes, we remain committed to take measures to ensure citizens are free of tax harassment. Major reforms to be introduced for recruitment into non-gazetted posts in government and PSBs; National Recruitment Agency to be set up for conducting common online eligibility tests for recruitment to these posts. Supporting states to focus on one product for one district so as to make way for Horticulture to gain momentum. Proposed new National Policy on Official Statistics will improve data collection and dissemination, using tech. India will host G20 Presidency in 2022, 100 crore rupees to be allocated for making preparations for this historic occasion, where India will drive global economic agenda.
30,757 crore rupees for Union Terrritory of Jammu & Kashmir. 5,958 crore rupees for Union Terrritory of Ladakh. Robust mechanism is in place to monitor and ensure health of all scheduled commercial banks and depositors' money is absolutely safe. Deposit Insurance Coverage to be increased from 1 lakh rupees to 5 lakh rupees. Viability gap funding window to cover hospitals with priority to aspirational districts that don't have hospitals empanelled under Ayushman Bharat. Amendments to be made to enable NBFCs to extend invoice financing to MSMEs. Sagar Mitras to enable Youth and Fishery extension work, forming 500 fish farmer producing organization. App-based invoice financing loans product to be launched, to obviate problem of delayed payments and cash flow mismatches for MSMEs. Certain specified categories of government securities will be open fully for NRIs, apart from being open to domestic investors. Expand Exchange Traded Fund by floating a Debt ETF, consisting primarily of govt. securities. About 22,000 crore rupees already provided for supporting National Infrastructure Pipeline. GIFT City to have an International Bullion Exchange, enabling better price discovery of gold. Govt. proposes to sell part of its holding in Life Insurance Corporation by way of Initial Public Offering. We have, in substantial measure, accepted the recommendations of 15th Finance Commission. Nominal GDP growth for the year 2020-21 estimated at 10%, on the basis of trends available. Accordingly, receipts for 2020-21 estimated at 22.46 lakh crore rupees. Expenditure at 30.42 lakh crore rupees. Significant tax reforms undertaken, however expected tax buoyancy will take time. Fiscal deficit of 3.8% in RE 2019-20 and 3.5% in BE 2020-21. A new scheme to provide higher insurance cover, reduced premium for small exporters and simplified procedure for claims. To provide significant relief to individual tax payers and simplify tax law, a new regime of personal income tax to be introduced. Under the new personal income tax regime, individual tax payers to pay tax at reduced rate of 10% for income between 5 lakh and 7.5 lakh rupees. For income between 7.5 lakh rupees and 10 lakh rupees, tax rate will now be 15% against the current 20%. Provision of Rs 8000 crore over five years for Quantum Technologies and it's applications. or income between 10 lakh rupees and 12.5 lakh rupees, the new tax rate will be 20%, down from 30% now 12.5 lakh - 15 lakh - tax will be 25%. Income above 15 lakh rupees will continue to be taxed at 30%. Substantial tax benefit will accrue to individual tax payers under the new personal income tax regime. This will be depending on the exemptions and deductions being availed under the old regime. The new personal income tax regime is optional for taxpayers. Those earning up to Rs 5 lakh in a year will pay no tax. The new personal income tax regime entails an estimated revenue foregone amounting to 40,000 crore rupees per year. A person earning Rs 15 lakh per anum and not availing any deductions will now pay Rs 1.95 lakh tax in place of Rs 2.73 lakh. Around 70 of more than 100 income tax deductions and exemptions have been removed, in order to simplify tax system and lower tax rates. Tax rate of 30% on income above Rs 15 lakh will be continued. Dividend Distribution Tax to be removed, companies will not be required to pay DDT; dividend to be taxed only at the hands of recipients, at applicable rates. Concessional corporate tax cut to be extended to new domestic companies engaged in power generation. Expansion of National Gas Grid from 16,200 km to 27,000 km along with reforms to deepen gas markets, enable ease of transactions and transparent price discovery. To boost startups, tax burden on employees due to tax on Employee Stock Options to be deferred by five years or till they leave the company or when they sell, whichever is earliest. Option to be provided to cooperative societies to be taxed at 22% plus 10% surcharge and 4% cess, with no exemptions or deductions. To be exempted also from Minimum Alternative Tax. Turnover threshold for audit of MSMEs to be increased from 1 crore to 5 crore rupees, to those businesses which carry out less than 5% of their business in cash. Registration of charity institutions to be made completely electronic, donations made to be pre-filled in IT return form to claim exemptions for donations easily. Under Vivad Se Vishwas Scheme, taxpayer to pay only amount of disputed tax, will get complete waiver on interest and penalty, if scheme is availed by March 31, 2020. A system to be launched soon, for instant online allotment of PAN on the basis of Aadhaar, without the need for filling any application form. Aadhaar-based verification of taxpayers is being introduced. Rules of Origin requirements in Customs Act to be reviewed, to ensure FTAs are aligned with the conscious direction of our policy. Nominal health cess on import of medical equipment to be introduced, to encourage domestic industry and generate resources for health services.
