Union Budget 2012-13 Highlights –preliminary impressions.

[C.A. DEV KUMAR KOTHARI]

Proposals which will have inflationary effect:

Increase in service tax rate on all services and increase in excise duty and custom duty in many cases.

Increased spending by government in various projects will have inflationary effect if not monitored properly and unless higher proportion really goes to ground for benefit of public.

Income tax savings:

Reduction in tax liability - Income tax slabs - Upto 2 lacs = nil, from 2 lacs to 5 lacs = 10%, from 5 lacs to 10 lacs = 20%, above 10 lacs = 30%

By new tax saving scheme,

Deduction up to Rs.10000/- for bank interest.

No capital gain tax if investment is made in manufacturing SMEs

New equity savings scheme.

By investment in more tax saving bonds proposed for higher amount.

Cascading effect in Dividend Distribution Tax removed.

Hike in rate of  Central Excise duty and Service Tax Rate to 12 per cent which will also lead to hike in CVD on imports.

Revised Excise rate  will be applicable to clearances made after midnight of 16th March.

The excise rates on goods subject to 5 per cent have been hiked to 6 per cent and excise on goods subject to 1 per cent has also been hiked to 2 per cent.

Negative list of Service Tax has also been announced and all activities other than sale and purchase of goods will be subject to service tax.

Tax admin: Turnover limit for compulsory tax audit for SMEs raised from Rs. 60 lakh to Rs. 1 crore

Relief in indirect taxes to sectors under stress; agriculture, infrastructure, mining, railways, roads, civil aviation, manufacturing, health and nutrition, and environment get duty relief

Peak customs duty rates will not be changed.

Propose to set up a common tax code for service tax & excise

Overall budget impressions:

There are cosmetic changes made. A relief granted in one form  is taken back a in other form by increase in duty and taxes. Thus public will not benefit in real sense.

Missing aspects:

More measures are required to ensure increased productivity and efficiency in government departments, government undertakings and government spending. Corruption at operational levels need to be checked. Power to harass people need to be curtailed. Un-productive work  need to be curtailed.

Better task standards  need to be prescribed and achieved for each government employees who is paid out of tax payers money.

Efficient government spending will improve moral of public to pay higher taxes, but any meaningful measure is not taken to ensure fair dealing by government departments while dealing with public.

 

Some preliminary understanding of proposals		Remarks
Budget identifies five objectives relating to  growth recovery, private investment, supply bottlenecks, malnutrition and governance matters		Productivity and efficiency in government departments and companies need to be improved.
GDP growth to be 7.6 per cent (+ 0.25 percent) during 2012-13
Amendment to the FRBM Act proposed  as part of Finance Bill.  New concepts of “Effective Revenue Deficit” and “Medium Term Expenditure Framework” introduced
Central subsidies to be kept under 2 per cent of GDP; to be further brought down to 1.75 per cent of GDP over the next 3 years.
Proposed: Mobile based fertilizer management system; LPG transparency portal; scaling up and rolling out of Aadhar enabled payment for government schemes in at least 50 districts.
Rs. 30,000 crore to be raised through disinvestment		Improvement in productivity and efficiency of PSU thus profitability can help disinvestment at better price.
Efforts to reach broad based consensus on FDI in multi-brand retail		Seems difficult.
Rajiv Gandhi Equity Saving Scheme: to allow income tax deduction to retail investors on  investing in equities		Why to name after a deceased member of Nehru family? Or any other politician. Preferably should be named after  our nation. Like “Indian equity saving scheme 2012”. Or “Bharat Equity Saving Scheme 2012” We must promote our nation and not politicians.
Rs. 15,888 crore to be provided for capitalization of public sector banks and financial  institutions		Is it not an indirect subsidy?
A central  “Know Your Customer” depository to be developed		This will be in nature of duplication of work. Instead  emphasis on PAN and EC card as part of KYC can serve purpose.
Investment in 12th Plan in infrastructure to go up to Rs. 50,00,000 crore; half of this is expected from private sector.		Efficacy of investment need to improve. Otherwise public get benefit of just 10-15% of investment.
Tax Free Bonds of Rs. 60,000 crore to be allowed for financing infrastructure projects.		Good measure. However, efficiency of spending need to be improved. Efficient use fo funds in infrastructure project is important.
Allocation of Road Transport and Highways Ministry enhanced by 14 per cent to Rs. 25,360 crore.		Effeciency need to be improved.
Financial package of Rs. 3,884 crore for waiver of loans to handloom weavers and their cooperative societies; mega handloom clusters in Andhra, Jharkhand; weaver service centres in Mizoram, Nagaland and Jharkhand ; powerloom mega cluster in Maharashtra; Rs. 500 crore pilot schemes for geo-textiles in North-Eastern region.
Rs. 5,000 crore India Opportunities Venture Fund to help small enterprises.
Allocation to agriculture enhanced; RKVY gets Rs. 9,217 crore; BGREI gets Rs. 1,000 crore; Rs. 2242 crore project to improve dairy productivity; Rs. 500 crore for coastal aquaculture.
Target for agricultural credit raised to Rs. 5,75,000 crore.
Interest subvention for short-term crop loans to farmers at 7 per cent interest continues; additional 3 per cent for prompt paying farmers.		Discipline will be promoted.
Rs. 200 crore for awards to incentivise agricultural research.		Officers in civil services having qualification in Science and technology should be transferred to research activities instead of keeping them as revenue officers.
Provisions under rural housing fund increased to Rs. 4,000 crore from Rs. 3,000 crore.		Hope for good.
Interest subvention of 1 percent on housing loans uptoRs. 15 lakh extended for one more year.		Hope for good.
AIBP allocation raised by 13 per cent to Rs. 14,242 crore.		Hope for good.
National Mission on Food Processing to be started in cooperation with State Governments.		Hope for good.
Scheduled Caste Sub Plan allocation increases by 18 per cent to Rs. 37,113 crore; Tribal Sub Plan by 17.6 per cent to Rs. 21,710 crore.
Multi-sectoral programme to address maternal and child malnutrition in 200 high burden districts.		Proper use of spending need to be ensured.
58 per cent rise in allocation to ICDS, at Rs. 15,850 crore.
Rural drinking water and sanitation gets 27 per cent rise in allocation to Rs. 14,000 crore; PMGSY gets 20 per cent rise to Rs. 24,000 crore.		Hope for good.
Projects covering length of 8800 km to be awarded under NHDP against 7,300 km during 2011-12.		Hope for good.
RTE-SSA gets Rs. 25,555 crore allocation, showing an increase of 21 per cent; 6000 schools to be set up at block level as model schools in the 12th Plan; Credit Guarantee Fund to be set up for better flow of credit to students.		Hope for good.
National Urban Health Mission is being launched.		Hope for good.
34 per cent increase in allocation to National Rural Livelihood Mission, to Rs. 3915 crore.		Hope for good.
Rs. 1000 crore allocated for National Skill Development Fund.		Hope for good- brain drain should be avoided. Why an engineer or  scientist is allowed to work as an IRS officer?
Bharat Livelihood Foundation to be established to support livelihood interventions particularly in  tribal areas.		Hope for good.
Widow pension and disability pension raised from Rs. 200 to Rs. 300 per month.		Hope for good- more funds are desired.
Grant on death of primary breadwinner of a BPL family in the age group 18-64 years doubled to Rs. 20,000
Defence services get Rs. 193407 crore; any further requirement to be met		Better utilization of funds, and resources and improved productivity and efficiency is required.
4000 residential quarters to be constructed for Central Armed Police forces.		Hope for good.
UID-Aadhar to get adequate funds for enrolment of 40 crore persons, in addition to the 20 crore persons already enrolled.		Hope for good.
White Paper on Black Money to be laid in the current session of Parliament		Promptness is required. Otherwise black money will be diverted.
Tax proposals mark progress in the direction of movement towards DTC and GST		Hope for good.

Income tax :

Income tax exemption limit raised from Rs. 1,80,000 to Rs. 2,00,000; upper limit of 20 per cent tax slab raised from Rs. 8 lakh to Rs. 10 lakh.
Interest from savings bank accounts deductible upto Rs. 10,000;
Deduction of upto Rs. 5,000 for preventive health check-up.
Senior citizens without business income exempt from advance tax
Investment linked deduction of capital expenditure enhanced for certain businesses; new sectors eligible for investment linked deduction
Turnover limit for compulsory tax audit for SMEs raised from Rs. 60 lakh to Rs. 1 crore
General Anti Avoidance Rule being introduced to counter aggressive tax avoidance.
A number of measures proposed to deter generation and use of unaccounted money.
STT on cash delivery reduced by 25 per cent to 0.1%

All services to attract service tax except those in the negative list
Central Excise and Service Tax being harmonized
Standard rate of excise duty raised from 10 per cent to 12 per cent
service tax rates raised from 10 per cent to 12 per cent
change in peak customs duty of 10 per cent on non-agricultural goods
Certain cigarettes and bidis attract higher excise duty; large cars attract higher customs duty
Excise imposed on unbranded jewellery also; measures to minimize impact on small artisans  and goldsmiths;
branded silver jewellery exempted from excise duty
Fiscal deficit targeted at 5.1 per cent of GDP, as against 5.9 per cent in revised estimates for 2011-12
Central Government debt at 45.5 per cent of GDP as compared to Thirteenth Finance Commission target of 50.5 per cent
Medium-term Expenditure Framework Statement to be  introduced; will set forth 3-year rolling target for expenditure indicators