On Monday, the Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Union Budget 2021 in the Parliament. She concluded the Budget Speech in 1 hour 49 minutes. In the speech, she mentioned that no changes will be made in the existing Income-tax slabs this year. Also, the represented Budget depicted emphasis on the healthcare and infrastructure sector.
Here are the main points of Budget 2021:-
- Senior citizens aged 75 years or above, having only pension and interest income will be exempted from filing Income Tax Return.
- Companies performing digital business will be exempted from tax audit if their annual turnover exceeds Rs. 10 Crore.
- The Government of India is aiming for India’s first digital census and it has allocated Rs. 3276 Crores for the same.
- The Government accepted the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission and the states will get a share of 41% of taxes.
- Indian Railway will be provided with a sum of Rs. 1,10,055 Crore rupees out of which Rupees. 1,07,100 is accumulated for capital expenditure.
- One Nation, One Ration – A new scheme is introduced by the Indian Government through which the citizens can avail the benefits in any state of the country.
- The share of Rural Infrastructure Development increased from 30,000 Crores to 40,000 Crores.
- Amendments are made to the MSP regime, which states that the assured price of the product can not be less than 1.5 times the cost of production across all commodities.
- PM Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana to be started with an expenditure of 64,180 crores over 6 years.
- The definition of Small companies will be amended with the inflation of the current limit of paid-up share capital from Rs. 50 lakhs to Rs. 2 Crore.
- This year, Rs. 35,000 Crores have been allocated for Covid-19 vaccination.
The Budget represents that the Finance Minister has tried to focus on generating employment and improving the healthcare sector of the nation. The Budget also proposed various development schemes be launched this year. However, it is yet to be seen what effects will Budget 2021 have on the economy of the nation.