Key Highlights of Budget 2019

Finance Minister Piyush Goyal presented sixth and final budget 2019 of the Narendra Modi government's before the polls. He highlighted the initiatives of the government and announced the farmer income support scheme of Rs 6,000 per year. Apart from farmer, the budget has many other benefits, let's have a look at some of the key highlights of Budget 2019…

Budget 2019 Tax announcements:

# No tax till Rs 5 lakh income for individuals taxpayers

# Standard deduction increased to Rs 50,000 from Rs 40,000 for salaried class

# No tax for individuals with gross income up to 6.5 lakh rupees if they make investments in provident funds and prescribed equities

# TDS threshold for home rent increased from Rs 1.8 lakh to 2.4 lakh

# Interest income up to Rs 40,000 in post offices and banks made tax free

# Capital gains tax exemptions under Section 54 to be available for increased to Rs 2 crore. Capital gains exemption to be available on 2 house properties

# Income tax relief on notional rent from unsold houses extended to 2 years from 1 year

# Income Tax returns to be processed within 24 hours and returns will be paid immediately

# Within nearly two years, almost all assessment and verification of IT returns will be done electronically by an anonymised tax system without any intervention by officials

# Group of Ministers to suggest ways to reduce GST for house buyers

# Direct tax collections increased from Rs 6.38 lakh crore in 2013-14 to almost Rs 12 lakh crore; The tax base is up from Rs 3.79 crore to 6.85 crore

# Gratuity limit increased for workers

Budget 2019 Allocations:

# Rs 60,000 crore allocated for MNREGA this year

# Rs 19,000 allocated for construction of rural roads under Gram Sadak Yojana

# For securing our borders, govt increases defence budget to over Rs 3 lakh crore. Govt will provide additional funds for Defence if needed.

# We have disbursed 35,000 crore rupees under #OROP scheme in the last few years

Budget 2019 Key announcements:

# Rs 6,000 per year pension for farmers

# Rs 3,000 per year pension for unorganised sector workers

# Interest subvention for farm loan takers

# Businesses with less than Rs 5 crore annual turnover, comprising over 90% of GST payers, will be allowed to return quarterly returns

# A single window clearance for filmmakers

# Indian Customs to fully digitised exim transactions and leveraging RFID for logistic. Govt abolishes duties on 36 capital goods

# Nine priority areas:

(1) To build a Digital India that reaches every citizen;

(2) Clean and Green India;

(3) Expanding rural industrialization using modern industrial technologies;

(4) Clean Rivers - with safe drinking water to all Indians;

(5) Oceans and coastlines;

(7) India becoming launchpad of the world;

(8) Self-sufficiency in food and improving agricultural productivity with emphasis on organic food;

(9) Healthy India;

(10) Minimum Government Maximum Governance, with proactive, responsible and friendly bureaucracy