Sunday, February 15, 2009

Highlights - Interim Budget

Rs 4,900 cr allocated to Bharat Nirman Scheme
Rs 8,300 cr for mid-day meal scheme
Rs 1,200 crore for Total Sanitation Programme
Rs 6705 cr allocated for child development schemes
Tax collections in 2008-09 to exceed that of 2007-08
FY09 fiscal deficit seen at 6% of GDP vs 2.5 %
Tax collections down by Rs 60,000 crore over estimates
Plan expenditure revised to 3 lakh crore
Revenue deficit revisied at 4.4% of GDP
Custom duties rates steadily reduced in UPA rule
Tax collection to increase in 2008-09
Govt expenditure estimate revised to over 9 lakh crores
Pranab Mukherjee resumes Interim Budget speech
Kerala MP falls ill; session adjourned for 10 minutes
Part of NIF proceeds also to be used for capital investment
PSU turnover up 84%
Centre has pumped in Rs 652 cr into Regional Rural Banks
Personal Income tax structure has been rationalised
Tax rates must fall during the time of crisis
Turnover of PSUs rose by 84% in 2003-08
Young widows to get priority in ITI admissions
The RIDA corpus was hiked from Rs 5,500 to Rs 14,000 cr
Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme for widows
Govt to provide subsidy to farmers in 2009-10
Six new IITs started in 2008-09
Educational loan schemes revised
2 new IITs in MP and Rajasthan in 2009-10
Rs 65,300 crore in loans loans waived off for farmers
Industrial production fell by 2 pct in 2008 on a YoY basis
Govt took prompt stimulus packages to curb slowdown
Allocation to agriculture increased by 300%
Outlay for higher education increased 900 per cent
Govt took prompt stimulus packages to curb slowdown
Govt approved 37 infrastructure projects
Tax to GDP ration risen by 12.5%
60.12 lakh houses built under Indira Awaas Yojna
Highest priority to rural development
Per Capita income grew by 7.4% in UPA regimen
Agri revival package implemented in 25 states
Employment generation schemes to be expanded
Economic growth has to be sustainable and inclusive
Manufacturing and agriculture sector are the growth drivers
FRPM targets being relaxed
Export growth for the first 9 months of the current year down to 17.1%
Export growth slowed down to 17.1% for the last 9 months
Export growth at 26.4% annually in the last 4 years
Government has approved 37 new infrastructure projects
Serious chocking of credit due to global downturn
Export growth at 26.4% annually in the last 4 years
India second fastest growing economy at 7.1% growth
Agriculture annual growth rate 3.7%
Savings rate up to 30.7% in 2008
Farmers real heroes of our success story
Investment rate has grown to 39%
Fiscal deficit down by 2.7%
Focus to maintain growth rate of 7-8%

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Highlights - Interim Rail Budget

2 per cent cut in AC-Fares.
43 new trains to be introduced in FY-2010.
Feasibility study for Delhi-Patna Bullet train going on.
Rail passenger growth up 14%.
43 new trains to be introduced in FY-2010.
Freight rate to remain unchanged.
Railways to spend Rs 4000 crore on pensions.
To invest Rs 2.3 cr in the next five years.
Railways has invested Rs 38,000 crore in 2008-09.
Railways cash reserves touch Rs 90,000 crore .
4 call centres set up for rail enquiry.
Customers can now book tickets online.
Profits registeres without hurting the common man.
Freight capacity up by 78%.
Railways got loans at 4%.
Mishap rate has dropped drastically.
Lalu: Our Rail Budget has always been for the poor.
This would be UPA's last railway budget during this term.
The budgetary support to the railway plan will be about Rs 10,800 crore, representing a significant step up of 37 per cent compared with Rs 7,874 crore in 2008-09.
Government officials said the minister was keen on gifting lower fares to the janata in an election year despite resistance within the ministry.
Expectations are that Lalu Prasad's populist budget for 2009- 10 will include a substantial investment of Rs 12,000 crore for the ambitious East-West freight corridor.
Lalu Prasad Yadav looks all set to keep his date with history when he rises to present the interim rail budget in Lok Sabha.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Saturday, February 7, 2009

WHEN INTELLIGENT PEOPLE SAVE TAXES, THEY MAKE MONEY

The most common question in respect of investment to save on tax would perhaps be “what is the best way to save on taxes”. With several tax saving instruments (NSC, PPF, Bank FDs, and Equity Linked Savings Scheme) available in the market, investors need to figure out the one which has clear edge over others. Equity Linked Savings Scheme (ELSS) is one such option which is an ahead of others. A quick comparison will let us know more o this.


Advantages of ELSS

1. Being the only equity based tax saving instrument available in the market that offers tax deduction under section 80C
2. As an asset class they carry higher growth potential. The 3 Year lock in period extends flexibility to fund manager to focus on long term opportunities.
3. ELSS has potential to counter inflation and notch up healthy inflation adjusted returns.