Finance Minister P Chidambaram Monday presented the Interim Budget in the Lok Sabha. The FM bettered the 4.8 percent FY14 fiscal deficit target by 20 basis points to 4.6 percent.
However, the stock market was unimpressed, with both the Sensex and Nifty moving in a narrow range. Most economy watchers and even the market was confident that the FM would deliver on the number. That was partly because of the aggressive spending cuts undertaken by the Finance Ministry in recent months, and also the leeway that it has to defer some of the expenses to the next year.
There were no nasty surprises in the form of populist measures, but the government seems to be trying to reach out the corporate sector and the middle class as evident from some of the indirect tax incentives.
Following are the highlights from the Interim Budget:
Fiscal deficit for FY14 seen at 4.6 percentFY15 food, fertiliser, oil subsidy seen at Rs 2.46 croreFiscal deficit for FY15 seen at 4.1 percentTax collection for FY15 seen 19% higher at Rs 13.73 lakh crore Excise duty for small cars, two wheelers, CVs cut to 8 percent from 12 percentExcise duty for large and mid sized cars cut to 20 percentExcise duty for SUVs cut to 24 percent from 30 percentMoratorium on education loans taken before March 31, 2009Excise duty on capital goods and consumer durables cut by 2 percentFY15 gross borrowing target at Rs 5.97 lakh croreFY15 Non-plan Expenditure seen at Rs 12.07 lakh croreFY15 Plan Expenditure seen at Rs 5.55 lakh croreFY15 net market borrowing figure seen at Rs 4.57 lakh croreBanks to lend Rs 8 lakh crore to agriculture sector in FY15Govt to set aside Rs 11,200 crore for recapitalization of PSU banksRs 35,000 crore of fuel subsidy to be rolled over to FY15FY14 fertilser subsidy revised to Rs 67,971 croreFY14 food subsidy revised to Rs 92,000 croreFY14 fuel subsidy revised to Rs 85,480 croreGDP for December, March quarters (FY14) seen at 5.2 percent eachFY14 GDP growth seen at 4.9 percentFY15 divestment pegged at Rs 36,925 croreFY14 divestment target revised to Rs 16,027 crore
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