Finance Minister Arun Jaitley just finished presenting the Union Budget, 2017. In the last two and half years administration has moved from discretionary, favoritism based to system and transparency based. A lot of focus was found to “Transform, Energise and Clean India”. Here are the key highlights of the budget sector-wise:

Ten distinct themes to foster this broad agenda:

1. Farmers : committed to double the income in 5 years;
2. Rural Population : providing employment & basic infrastructure;
3. Youth : energising them through education, skills and jobs;
4. The Poor and the Underprivileged : strengthening the systems of social security, health care and affordable housing;
5. Infrastructure: for efficiency, productivity and quality of life;
6.Financial Sector : growth & stability by stronger institutions;
7. Digital Economy : for speed, accountability and transparency;
8.Public Service : effective governance and efficient service delivery through people’s participation;
9.Prudent Fiscal Management: to ensure optimal deployment of resources and preserve fiscal stability;
10.Tax Administration: honouring the honest.

1) Farmers:

1. NABARD corpus of Rs 40000 crore to be formulated as long term irrigation
2. Dairy processing infra fund of Rs. 8000 crore to be formulated
3. Micro irrigation fund of Rs. 5000 crore to be formulated
4. Mini Labs aka Krishi Vigyan Kendras will be set up by the Govt
5. Model law on contract farming to be circulated
6. Credit limit to farmers increased to Rs. 10 lakh crore

More details in the Union Budget,2017. 

2) Rural Population:

1. MGNREGA allocation reaches an all-time high – increased to Rs. 48000 crore.
2. Allocation for Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin increased from 15,000 crores in BE 2016-17 to ` 23,000 crores in 2017-18 with a target to complete 1 crore houses by 2019 for the houseless and those living in kutcha houses.
3. Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana: Rs19,000 crore allocated; along with states, Rs27,000 crore will be spent in FY 17-18
   
4. Target to achieve 100% village electrification by May 2018
5. Rs4,500 crore allocated to Rural livelihood mission
6. Mason training to be provided for 5 lakh people

More details in the Union Budget,2017. 

3) Youth:

1. To introduce a system of measuring annual learning outcomes in our schools
2. Innovation fund for secondary education proposed to encourage local innovation
3. Good quality higher education institutions to have greater administrative and academic autonomy
   
4. SWAYAM platform, leveraging IT, to be launched with at least 350 online courses. This would enable students to virtually attend courses taught by the best faculty
5. National testing agency to be established for all entrance exams, freeing up CBSE, AICTE and other bodies
6. 100 Indian international skill centres to be established with courses in foreign languages

More details in the Union Budget,2017. 

4.Poor & Underprivileged:

1. Mahila Shakti Kendra will be set up with an allocation of ` 500 crores in 14 lakh ICDS Anganwadi Centres. This will provide one stop convergent support services for empowering rural women with opportunities for skill development, employment, digital literacy, health and nutrition.
2. Under Maternity Benefit Scheme ` 6,000 each will be transferred directly to the bank accounts of pregnant women who undergo institutional delivery and vaccinate their children
3. Affordable housing to be given infrastructure status
4. Action plan to eliminate leprosy by 2018, TB by 2025, reduce IMR to 29 in 2019
5. To create additional PG medical seats per annum.
6. Two new AIIMS in Jharkhand and Gujarat
7. Labour rights: Legislative reforms to simplify and amalgamate existing labour laws

More details in the Union Budget,2017. 

5.Infrastructure:

1. For transportation sector as a whole, including rail, roads, shipping, provision of 2,41,387 crores has been made in 2017-18.
2. For 2017-18, the total capital and development expenditure of Railways has been pegged at ` 1,31,000 crores. This includes ` 55,000 crores provided by the Government
3. For passenger safety, a Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh will be created with a corpus of ` 1 lakh crores over a period of 5 years
4. SMS based Clean My Coach Service has been started
5. ‘Coach Mitra’, a single window interface, to register all coach related complaints and requirements to be launched
6. By 2019, all coaches of Indian Railways will be fitted with bio toilets. Tariffs of Railways would be fixed, taking into consideration costs, quality of service and competition from other forms of transport

More details in the Union Budget,2017. 

6.Financial Sector:

1. Foreign Investment Promotion Board to be abolished in 2017-18 and further liberalisation of FDI policy is under consideration
2. An expert committee will be constituted to study and promote creation of an operational and legal framework to integrate spot market and derivatives market in the agricultural sector, for commodities trading. e- NAM to be an integral part of the framework.
3. Bill relating to curtail the menace of illicit deposit schemes will be introduced. A bill relating to resolution of financial firms will be introduced in the current Budget Session of Parliament. This will contribute to stability and resilience of our financial system
4. New ETF to be launched
5. Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana: Lending target at Rs2.44 trillion

More details in the Union Budget,2017. 

7.Digital Economy:

1. 125 lakh people have adopted the BHIM app so far. The Government will launch two new schemes to promote the usage of BHIM; these are, Referral Bonus Scheme for individuals and a Cashback Scheme for merchantsIndia at cusp of massive digital revolution
2. Aadhaar Pay to be launched for people who don’t have mobile phones
3. Focus on rural and semi-urban areas
4. To strengthen financial inclusion fund
5. Panel on digital payments has recommended structural reforms
6. A Mission will be set up with a target of 2,500 crore digital transactions for 2017-18 through UPI, USSD, Aadhar Pay, IMPS and debit cards
7. A proposal to mandate all Government receipts through digital means, beyond a prescribed limit, is under consideration

More details in the Union Budget,2017. 

8. Public Services:

1. The Government e-market place which is now functional for procurement of goods and services
2. To utilise the Head Post Offices as front offices for rendering passport services
3. Centralized defence travel and pension distribution system developed
4. Govt looks to introduce laws to confiscate assets of economic defaulters

More details in the Union Budget,2017. 

9. Prudent Fiscal Management:

1.  Stepped up allocation for Capital expenditure by 25.4% over the previous year
2.  Total resources being transferred to the States and the Union Territories with Legislatures is ` 4.11 lakh crores, against 3.60 lakh crores in BE 2016-17
3. For the first time, a consolidated Outcome Budget, covering all Ministries and Departments, is being laid along with the other Budget documents
4. FRBM Committee has recommended 3% fiscal deficit for the next three years, keeping in mind the sustainable debt target and need for public investment, fiscal deficit for 2017-18 is targeted at 3.2% of GDP and Government remains committed to achieve 3% in the following years

More details in the Union Budget,2017. 

10.Promoting affordable housing and real estate sector

1. Between 8th November and 30th December 2016, deposits between 2 lakh Rupees and 80 lakh Rupees were made in about 1.09 crore accounts with an average deposit size of 5.03 lakh.
2. Deposits of more than 80 lakh were made in 1.48 lakh accounts with average deposit size of ` 3.31 crores.
3. Under the scheme for profit-linked income tax deduction for promotion of affordable housing, carpet area instead of built up area of 30 and 60 Sq.mtr. will be counted.
4. The 30 Sq.mtr. limit will apply only in case of municipal limits of 4 metropolitan cities while for the rest of the country including in the peripheral areas of metros, limit of 60 Sq.mtr. will apply
5. For builders for whom constructed buildings are stock-in-trade, tax on notional rental income will only apply after one year of the end of the year in which completion certificate is received
6. Reduction in the holding period for computing long term capital gains from transfer of immovable property from 3 years to 2 years. Also, the base year for indexation is proposed to be shifted from 1.4.1981 to 1.4.2001 for all classes of assets including immovable property

More details in the Union Budget,2017. 

11. Promoting Digital Economy

1. Under scheme of presumptive income for small and medium tax payers whose turnover is upto 2 crores, the present, 8% of their turnover which is counted as presumptive income is reduced to 6% in respect of turnover which is by non-cash means
2.  No transaction above ` 3 lakh would be permitted in cash subject to certain exceptions

More details in the Union Budget,2017. 

12.Ease of Doing Business

1. Scope of domestic transfer pricing restricted to only if one of the entities involved in related party transaction enjoys specified profit-linked deduction
2. Threshold limit for audit of business entities who opt for presumptive income scheme increased from ` 1 crore to ` 2 crores. Similarly, the threshold for maintenance of books for individuals and HUF increased from turnover of 10 lakhs to 25 lakhs or income from 1.2 lakhs to 2.5 lakhs
3. Foreign Portfolio Investor (FPI) Category I & II exempted from indirect transfer provision. Indirect transfer provision shall not apply in case of redemption of shares or interests outside India as a result of or arising out of redemption or sale of investment in India which is chargeable to tax in India

More details in the Union Budget,2017. 

13. Personal Income Tax

1. Existing rate of taxation for individual assesses between income of `2.5 lakhs to 5 lakhs reduced to 5% from the present rate of 10%
2. Surcharge of 10% of tax payable on categories of individuals whose annual taxable income is between `50 lakhs and ` 1 crore

For other details relating to GST & RAPID, please download the final copy of Union Budget,2017.