Budget 2008

Like every year BUDGET 2008 came. Some are happy and some are not satisfied with FM and his budget. But finance minister had played a good shot. I think he touches the heart beat of the common man.

Some Key feature of Budget' 08 are:

Taxes

• Income Tax exemption (general) increased to Rs 1.5 lakh
• Income Tax exemption for women increased to Rs 1.8 lakh
• Income Tax exemption for senior citizens raised to Rs 2.25 lakh
• Tax slab for income group between Rs 1.5-3 lakh fixed at 10 per cent
• Tax slab for income group between Rs 3-5 lakh slated at 20 per cent
• Tax slab for income group of above Rs 5 lakh have been modified at 30 per cent

Agriculture

• Marginal and small farmers to get complete loan waiver; all loans up to March 2007 under the scheme
• Total relief package for farmers to cost Rs 60,000 crore
• Agricultural growth estimated at 2.6 per cent
• Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna launched
• Haryana & Chandigarh to develop smart card facility for food subsidy distribution

Education

• Education gets a hike of 20 per cent, a total of Rs 34,400 crore allocated
• Three IITs to be established in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan
• Two IISERS to be established at Bhopal and Thruvananthapuram
• Mid day meal scheme to be extended to upper primary classes in government and government aided schools; their total allocation to go up to Rs 8000 crore
• Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya to get Rs 130 crore

Industry

• No change in corporate tax
• Excise duty on Pharma products down to 8 per cent from last year's 16 per cent
• Excise duty on two and three wheelers down to 12 per cent
• Excise duty on Hybrid cars reduced to 14 per cent from 24 per cent
• Custom duty on project import have been reduced from 7.5 per cent to 5 per cent
• Special exemptions and reductions for paper, fertilizers and auto industries

In short we can say that finance minister asked people of India to vote for Congress Government in next General Election.