KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF UNION BUDGET 2020-21

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16 Action Points for Agriculture

Irrigation and Rural Development:
• Rs. 2.83 lakh crore to be allocated for the following 16 Action Points:
• Rs. 1.60 lakh crore for Agriculture, Irrigation & allied activities.
• Rs. 1.23 lakh crore for Rural development & Panchayati Raj. –
Agriculture credit:

• Rs. 15 lakh crore target set for the year 2020-21.
• PM-KISAN beneficiaries to be covered under the KCC scheme.
• NABARD Re-finance Scheme to be further expanded.
• Comprehensive measures for 100 water-stressed districts proposed.

Blue Economy:

• Rs. 1 lakh crore fisheries’ exports to be achieved by 2024-25.
• 200 lakh tonnes fish production targeted by 2022-23.
• 3477 Sagar Mitras and 500 Fish Farmer Producer Organisations to involve youth in fisheries extension.
• Growing of algae, sea-weed and cage culture to be promoted.
• Framework for development, management and conservation of marine fishery resources.
• Kisan Rail to be setup by Indian Railways through PPP:
• To build a seamless national cold supply chain for perishables (milk, meat, fish, etc.)
• Express and Freight trains to have refrigerated coaches.
• Krishi Udaan to be launched by the Ministry of Civil Aviation:
• Both international and national routes to be covered.
• North-East and tribal districts to realize Improved value of agri-products.
• One-Product, One-District for better marketing and export in the Horticulture sector.
• Balanced use of all kinds of fertilizers – traditional, organic and innovative fertilizers.
• Measures for organic, natural, and integrated farming:
• Jaivik Kheti Portal – online national organic products market to be strengthened.
• Zero-Budget Natural Farming (mentioned in July 2019 Budget) to be included.

PM-KUSUM to be expanded:

• 20 lakh farmers to be provided for setting up stand-alone solar pumps.
• Another 15 lakh farmers to be helped to solarise their grid-connected pump sets.

Village Storage Scheme:

To be run by the SHGs to provide farmers a good holding capacity and reduce their logistics cost. Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana – 0.5 crore households mobilized with 58 lakh SHGs for poverty alleviation.

Wellness, Water and Sanitation

• Rs. 69,000 crore allocated for overall Healthcare sector.
• Rs. 6400 crore (out of Rs. 69,000 crore) for PM Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY):
• More than 20,000 hospitals already empanelled under PM Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY).
• Jan Aushadhi Kendra Scheme to offer 2000 medicines and 300 surgicals in all districts by 2024.
• TB Harega Desh Jeetega campaign launched – commitment to end Tuberculosis by 2025.
• Rs. 3.60 lakh crore approved for Jal Jeevan Mission:
• Rs. 11,500 crore for the year 2020-21.
• Rs.12, 300 crore allocation for Swachh Bharat Mission in 2020-21:
• Commitment to ODF-Plus in order to sustain ODF behaviour.
• Emphasis on liquid and grey water management.
• Focus also on Solid-waste collection, source segregation, and processing.

Education and Skills

• Rs. 99,300 crore for education sector and Rs. 3000 crore for skill development in 2020-21.
• New Education Policy to be announced soon.
• National Police University and National Forensic Science University proposed for policing science, forensic science, and cyber-forensics.
• Degree level full-fledged online education program by Top-100 institutions in the National Institutional Ranking Framework.
• Budget proposes to attach a medical college to an existing district hospital in PPP mode.

Industry, Commerce and Investment

• Rs. 27,300 crore allocated for 2020-21 for development and promotion of Industry and Commerce.
• Investment Clearance Cell proposed to be set up:
• To provide “end to end” facilitation and support.

Infrastructure

• Rs.100 lakh crore to be invested on infrastructure over the next 5 years.
• National Infrastructure Pipeline:
• Rs. 103 lakh crore worth projects; launched on 31st December 2019.
• More than 6500 projects across sectors, to be classified as per their size and stage of development.

Highways

• Accelerated development of highways to be undertaken, including:
• 2500 Km access control highways.
• 9000 Km of economic corridors.
• 2000 Km of coastal and land port roads.
• 2000 Km of strategic highways.
• Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and two other packages to be completed by 2023.
• Chennai-Bengaluru Expressway to be started.

Indian Railways

• Large solar power capacity to be set up alongside rail tracks, on land owned by railways.
• Four station re-development projects and operation of 150 passenger trains through PPP.
• More Tejas type trains to connect iconic tourist destinations.
• High speed train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad to be actively pursued.
• 148 km long Bengaluru Suburban transport project at a cost of Rs 18600 crore, to have fares on metro model.

Airports

100 more airports to be developed by 2024 to support Udaan scheme.

Development of North East region

• Improved flow of funds using online portal by the Government.
• Greater access to financial assistance of Multilateral and Bilateral funding agencies.
• Development of Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh:
• An amount of Rs. 30,757 crore provided for the financial year 2020-21.
• The Union Territory of Ladakh has been provided with Rs. 5,958.

Financial Sector

• Reforms accomplished in PSBs :
• 10 banks consolidated into 4.
• Rs. 3,50,000 crore capital infused.
• Governance reforms to be carried out to bring in transparency and greater professionalism in PSBs.
• Few PSBs to be encouraged to approach the capital market to raise additional capital

Infrastructure Financing

• Rs.103 lakh crore National Infrastructure Pipeline projects earlier announced.
• Rs 22,000 crore to cater to the equity support to Infrastructure Finance Companies such as IIFCL and a subsidiary of NIIF.
• An International Bullion exchange(s) to be set up as an additional option for trade by global market participants with the approval of regulator.


GST Compensation Fund:

• Balances due out of collection of the years 2016-17 and 2017-18 to be transferred to the Fund, in two instalments.
• Hereinafter, transfers to the fund to be limited only to collection by way of GST compensation cess.
• Overhaul of Centrally Sponsored Schemes and Central Sector Schemes necessary:
• To align them with emerging social and economic needs of tomorrow
• To ensure that scarce public resources are spent optimally
• On the recent debate over transparency and credibility of projected fiscal numbers, it is assured that procedure adopted is compliant with the FRBM Act.

For the FY 2019-20:

• Revised Estimates of Expenditure: 26.99 Lh cr.
• Revised Estimates of Receipts: estimated 19.32 Lh cr.

For year 2020-21:

• Nominal growth of GDP estimated at 10%.
• Receipts: estimated at Rs.22.46 lakh cr
• Expenditure: at Rs.30.42 lakh cr.
Fiscal deficit of 3.8% estimated in RE 2019-20 and 3.5% for BE 2020-21. It comprises two ingredients;3.3% for year 2019-20 and 3% for the 2020-21 budget estimate.

Tax concession for foreign investments:

100% tax exemption to the interest, dividend and capital gains income on investment made in infrastructure and priority sectors before 31st March, 2024 with a minimum lock-in period of 3 years by the Sovereign Wealth Fund of foreign governments.

Affordable housing

• Additional deduction up to Rs. 1.5 lakhs for interest paid on loans taken for an affordable house extended till 31st March, 2021.
• Date of approval of affordable housing projects for availing tax holiday on profits earned by developers extended till 31st March, 2021.

India now the fifth largest economy of the world

• 7.4% average growth clocked during 2014-19 with inflation averaging around 4.5%.
• 271 million people raised out of poverty during 2006-16.
• India’s Foreign Direct Investment elevated to US$ 284 billion during 2014-19 from US$ 190 billion during 2009-14.
• Central Government debt reduced to 48.7% of GDP (March 2019) from 52.2% (March 2014).