In her maiden Budget presented on Friday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced quick Aadhaar for NRIs on arrival in India, public-private partnership in railways, commercialisation of space ventures under ISRO, plans to expand FDI in aviation and insurance and allowing social enterprises to list on stock exchange. In a major move, Sitharaman said the regulation of housing finance companies will move from National Housing Bank (NHB) to the RBI.
The Union Budget 2019, however, did not bring cheer to the middle class as income tax slabs remained unchanged. The government also levied a Re 1 per litre cess on petrol and diesel as well as increased import duty on gold and precious metals from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent.
Promoting the purchase of e-vehicles, Sitharaman announced additional income tax deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh on interest paid on loans taken for e-vehicles. Sitharaman also announced additional Rs 1.5 lakh deduction in interest paid for affordable housing loans till March 2020. To encourage a digital economy, 2% TDS will be levied on cash withdrawals over Rs 1 crore in a year from one bank account.
Read the full text of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s speech here:
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