Budget 2018: The last full Budget of the present government, presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today, disappointed the middle-class by not announcing any changes in the income tax slab while choosing to dedicate the fiscal space to farmers, poor, rural population and small businesses. As the government breached the fiscal deficit target of 3.2% of the GDP, and revised it to 3.5% of the GDP in the fiscal year 2017-18, Arun Jaitley chose to focus on few select areas, with an aim of keeping the fiscal deficit target under 3.3% in the fiscal year 2018-19.

HDFC Group’s Deepak Parekh said that the Budget 2018 was fairly balanced regarding the fiscal deficit but it will not be a massive sell. The whole emphasis is to help the small men, marginal farmers, small taxpayers; companies that earn larger profits: let them pay a higher tax, Deepak Parekh added.

Agriculture

Arun Jaitley proposed hiking of agricultural credit target for the next fiscal by Rs 1 lakh crore to Rs 11 lakh crore while aiming to increase farmers income by 1.5 times. Farmers’ income was one of the main concerns raised by the Economic Survey released earlier this week on account of climate change. “The Budget will focus on strengthening the agricultural and rural economy,” Arun Jaitley said, adding that the government will set MSP at 1.5 times the cost of production for Kharif crops.

Arun Jaitley announced Rs 2,000 crore fund to be set up for upgrading rural agri-markets and allocated Rs 500 crore for ‘operation green’ to promote FPOs and agricultural logistics and processing. He also announced setting up of fisheries and aquaculture and animal husbandry infrastructure fund with an outlay of Rs 10,000 crore.

Also Read: Budget 2018: The history of Union Budget of India; interesting facts about how it changed over years

“An effort has been made to address the impact of changing dietary patterns and the increased consumption of proteins through the announcements made in animal husbandry and fisheries. This will also help India from an exports standpoint in the marine sector,” Anand Ramanathan, Partner Deloitte India said.

“However, would have also liked to see a similar focus on promoting investments in horticulture which is another high impact area from a changing food pyramid perspective,” he added.

Also Read:Income Tax Calculator: Find out how Budget 2018 will impact your finances

Rural population

Arun Jaitley today allocated Rs 14.34 lakh crore for rural infrastructure, saying that government’s focus for next year will be on maximum livelihood and job creation in rural areas. The amount of Rs 14.34 lakh crore fund will be through Budgetary allocation and non-budgetary allocation. He said that the government will increase the allocation under the national livelihood mission to Rs 5,750 cr in the next fiscal.

Healthcare for poor

With an aim to provide healthcare for 50 crore poor citizens, Arun Jaitley today announced flagship National Health Protection Scheme to cover 10 crore poor families in the country and allocated Rs 5 lakh per family per year. He said that the aim of the government is to take healthcare protection to a “new aspirational level”.

The finance minister allocated Rs 1200 crore for health wellness and also announced setting up 24 new government medical college and hospitals. He said this will ensure that every three parliamentary constituency has one upgraded district-level medical colleges. Arun Jaitley told the Parliament that with this kind of healthcare policy, the country is “slowly but steadily” progressive towards universal health coverage.

Watch Video: 10 New Facts On The Indian Economy

Small Businesses:

While Arun Jaitley did not fulfil his promise of a corporate tax rate cut, however, gave relaxation to small business with a turnover of Rs 250 crore. “I propose to extend benefit the benefit of a lower tax rate of 25% to companies with a reported turnover of Rs 250 crore,” Arun Jaitley said. He also said that the MSMEs witnessed a mass formalisation post demonetisation and the implementation of the GST.

“Measures for the Small and Medium Enterprises will help these budding enterprises to increase their performance and if they are able to take full advantage they will become a key contributory to the growth of the consumer-related sectors,” Anil Talreja, Partner, Deloitte India said.