Budget 2018 HIGHLIGHTS: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley gave his speech in the last full Union Budget of Narendra Modi-led NDA government prior to the 2019 general elections today. The budget 2018 was presented at 11 AM when both houses of Parliament convenes. In today’s budget, FM Jaitley said that the Demonetisation which was done in 2016 was received by honest tax-payers as ‘Imaandari ka Utsav’. Arun Jaitley also launched a bumper budget for the senior citizens; he said that the exemption of interest income on bank deposits raised to Rs 50,000. After the Budget presented today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is addressing the nation. During his address, he said, “I congratulate the Finance Minister for the decision regarding MSP. I am sure it will help farmers tremendously.” PM Modi further continued, “This Budget is farmer friendly, common citizen friendly, business environment-friendly and development friendly. It will add to ‘Ease of Living’”. With the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, this budget gave the government a chance to make good on the election promises made in 2014.
ONLINE STREAMING: BUDGET 2018
Check Union Budget 2018 HIGHLIGHTS:
5.00 pm: Now that the announcement has been made for defence corridor, the first one will be built starting at Tamil Nadu, linking Chennai and Bengaluru. Announcement for the second corridor will soon be made: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
4.45 pm: I did not hear any measure to boost exports, as the Govt has run out of ideas. FM has imposed additional custom duties to restrict imports.The PM’s speech at and the spirit of Davos has been forgotten within a few days- P Chidambaram
4.40 pm: Farm sector stress will continue. Medical health care is a big jumla. Nothing in the budget to boost private investment. No tax relief to the average tax payer. Is the FM serious?- P Chidambaram
4.30 pm: Rs 2 excise on petrol and diesel is being reduced & this is being converted into cess, that is the only change we have made, practically there is no impact on the final price of petrol & diesel. To the consumers, there is no change: Hasmukh Adhia, Finance Secretary
4.15 pm: The budget proposes an institutional mechanism to fix the emoluments of the elected members, thereby addressing the criticism that they fix their own salaries: FM Jaitley
4.10 pm: Step by step, in every budget, I have been putting surplus money in the hands of the middle-class taxpayer: FM Jaitley
4.05 pm: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley addresses the media after the announcement of the Union Budget 2018.
4.00 pm: This is a budget to speed up the development in India. Ease of Doing Business and Ease of Living have been simultaneously focused on: PM Narendra Modi
3.45 pm: We are disappointed with the Union Budget presented today. Many pressing state issues like Railway Zone, Polavaram project funding, Funding for capital Amaravati and other pending issues of Andhra Pradesh are not addressed in the budget: YS Chowdary, MoS Science&Technology, TDP
3.30 pm: Keeping focus on ‘ease of living’ the budget has kept people of all segments in mind: Jitendra Singh, MoS, PMO
3.20 pm: It’s a transformational budget, and it will bring about a positive change in everyone’s lives. Its a budget for the common man, the farmers and for the nation: Ananth Kumar, Union Minister
3.10 pm: Medical insurance of Rs 5 lakh for 10 crore families is a huge initiative. This is a historic budget: Union minister Nitin Gadkari
3.00 pm: I want congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi on announcing the world’s biggest national health protection scheme. This budget is for the development of the poor, for farmers and increasing their income, senior citizens and women: Union Minister Smriti Irani
2.50 pm: Desh ke ghareebon, gaon, kisaano, buzurgon ko dhyaan mein rakh kar behtareen yojnaayen hain, PM ka abhinandan aur FM ko badhai: Yogi Adityanath,UP CM
2.40 pm: Its a balanced budget which is for every section of society, especially the focus on farmers and health services of the poor. Economy will also get a boost.I congratulate PM Modi and FM Jaitley: Piyush Goyal,Railway Minister
2.30 pm: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal reacts to Union Budget 2018: Centre Government continues it’s step- motherly treatment to Delhi, the National Capital of India.
2.20 pm: In the 1 hour 45 minute speech, 1 hour was for the poor, this is indeed historic. The opposition has become too pessimistic: MJ Akbar,Union Minister
2.10 pm: Its a grand budget, lot of announcements for the poor, farmers and tribals. This budget will also cement India as a global economic power: HM Rajnath Singh
2.00 pm: Petrol, Diesel prices drop by Rs 2 after excise duty cut; big relief for Middle Class
1.37 pm: There are about 7 thousand blocks in more than 700 districts of India. In these blocks, the emphasis has been laid on the modernization of infrastructure of about 22 thousand rural business centers, innovation, and increase in connectivity to the villages: PM Modi.
1.36 pm: The Gobar-Dhan Yojana will also help to keep the village clean and increase the income of the farmers: PM Modi
1.35 pm: Steps for developing plans for storage, processing, marketing for agricultural products that are grown in different districts of the country are highly appreciated: PM Modi
1.34 pm: I congratulate the Finance Minister for the decision regarding MSP. I am sure it will help farmers tremendously: PM Modi
1.33 pm: The farmers, Dalits, tribal communities will gain from this Budget. The Budget will bring new opportunities for rural India: PM Modi
1.32 pm: This Budget is farmer friendly, common citizen friendly, business environment-friendly and development friendly. It will add to ‘Ease of Living’: PM Narendra Modi
1.25 pm: This budget has devoted attention to all sectors, ranging from agriculture to infrastructure: PM Narendra Modi speaks on Budget 2018.
1.20 pm: PM Narendra Modi to speak shortly on the #NewIndiaBudget and its benefits for 125 crore Indians.
1.13 pm: Announcements regarding education, health, and agriculture made. A national health protection scheme to benefit 10 crore poor families announced, it is a huge initiative. I would like to congratulate the government: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
1.08 pm: The govt has attempted to pay lip service to farmers and to other marginalised sections of society but it is a classical case of too less and completely at the inappropriate time: Manish Tewari, Congress
1.00 pm: Cashews (Kaaju) to get cheaper!
12.48 pm: MARKETS CRASH!!! Sensex at 35,526.23, down by 438.79 points
12.47 pm: We have been guided to strengthen health, education, employment sectors in #Budget2018. I am sure that the New India which we aspire, will now emerge: FM Arun Jaitley.
12.45 pm: Propose to introduce tax on distributed income by equity oriented mutual funds at 10%: FM Jaitley
12.42 pm: Propose to tax long term capital gains exceeding Rs 1 lakh at 10% without indexation: FM Jaitley
12.40 pm: Customs duty on mobile phones increased to 20% from 15%: Arun Jaitley
12.36 pm: Personal Income Tax rates unchanged; Rs. 40,000 standard deduction in lieu of present exemption: FM Jaitley
12.35 pm: All senior citizens can claim benefit of reduction Rs. 50,000/ year w.r.t any general health expenditure and health insurance premium: FM Jaitley
12.34 pm: For senior citizens, exemption of interest income on bank deposits raised to Rs 50,000: Arun Jaitley
12.33 pm: Propose to extend 25% corporate tax rate to companies with revenue up to Rs 250 crore: FM Jaitley
12.32 pm: Taxpayer base has risen from 6.47 crore in 2014-15 to 8.27 crore in 2016-17.: Arun Jaitley
12.30 pm: For FY 2017-18, at least 1.89 crore individual filed their Income Tax. Rs 1.44 lakh crore was received by the government. That means no changes in the Income Tax will be made for the salaried class: FM Jaitley
12.29 pm: Demonetisation was received by honest tax-payers as ‘Imaandari ka Utsav’: Arun Jaitley
12.28 pm: More payers joining tax net but turnover not encouraging: Arun Jaitley
12.27 pm: Propose 100% tax rebate for farmer producer companies having a turnover of Rs. 100 crore: FM Jaitley
12.26 pm: Govt has made many positive changes in the personal income tax rates applicable to individuals in the last three years therefore I do not wish to make any changes to this: Arun Jaitley
12.25 pm: Proposed two defence industrial corridors in the country to promote domestic production in both public and private sectors: Arun Jaitley
12.23 pm: The Govt is proposing changes in refixing salaries of Members of Parliament. Law will provide automatic revision of emoluments of the MPs every 5 years indexed to inflation: FM Jaitley
12.21pm: Projected fiscal deficit for 2018-19 is 3.3% of GDP: Arun Jaitley
WATCH| Budget 2018: The Story Of The Budget Briefcase | 5 Things We Bet You Didn’t Know
12.17 pm: Emoluments of the President to be revised to Rs 5 lakh per month & emoluments of the Vice-president to be revised to Rs 4 lakh per month: Arun Jaitley
12.16 pm: 80,000 crore disinvestment target for 2018-19, target for 2017-18 has been exceeded and will reach 1 lakh crore rupees:
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
12.15 pm: Mission on cyber space will be launched in support of establishment of centres of excellence: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
12.14 pm: Govt does not consider cryptocurrency as legal tender or coin and will take all measures to eliminate its use in financing illegitimate activities: FM Arun Jaitley
12.13 pm: 5 lakh WiFi hotspots to be set up in rural areas to provide easy Internet access: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
12.12 pm: Govt has identified 372 specific business reform actions to improve ease of doing business; Evaluation of performance under this programme to be based on user feedback: FM Arun Jaitley
12.11 pm: Will take all steps to eliminate the use of Crypto-Currencies, will encourage Blockchain technology in payment systems: FM Jaitley
12.10 pm: Niti Aayog to establish a national programme to direct efforts towards Artificial Intelligence, including research and development of its applications: Arun Jaitley
12.09 pm: 1 lakh Gram Panchayats connected to optic fiber completed; 5 lakh Wi-Fi spots to be created in rural areas: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
12.08 pm: Airports Authority of India now has 124 airports, this will be expanded by 5 times. Aim of 1 billion trips a year: Arun Jaitley
12.07 pm: UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam naagrik) scheme will connect 56 unserved airports and 31 unserved helipads: Arun Jaitley
12.06 pm: Work on reforming ‘safety first policy’ in railways, re-development of 600 major railway stations: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
12.05 pm: Capital expenditure for Indian Railways for 2018-19 is 1,48,528 crores: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
12.04 pm: AAI has 124 airports – propose to expand airport capacity 5 times: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
12.03 pm: To secure India’s defence, we are developing connectivity infrastructure in border areas. Rohtang tunnel has been completed to provide all-weather connectivity to Ladakh: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
12.02 pm: Rs. 1 lakh 48 thousand crores allocated to railways for capital expenditure: FM Jaitley
12.01 pm: Over 3600 kms of track renewal is targetted for this yea: FM Jaitley
12.01 pm: Focus will be on safety, maintenance of railway tracks, increase in use of technology and fog safety devices: FM Jaitley
12.00 pm: All railways stations with more than 25,000 footfall to have escalators. All railways stations and trains to have Wi-Fi and CCTVs progressively: Arun Jaitley
11.59 am: Foundation stone of the bullet train was laid in September 2017. An institute is coming up in Vadodara to train the manpower required for the high-speed railway projects: FM Jaitley
11.58 am: Redevelopment of 600 major railway stations taken up; Mumbai transport system being expanded; suburban network of 160 km planned for Bengaluru: FM Arun Jaitley
11.57 am: Committed to generate jobs for youth; urbanisation is the priority of our government; constructing smart cities and smart roads is on agenda: FM Jaitley
11.56 am: Amendment to EPF act to reduce contribution to 8% for women: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.55 am: Govt will contribute 12% of wages of new employees in EPF: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.54 am: 10 prominent tourist sites to be built into iconic places to visit: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.53 am: AMRUT program to focus on the water supply to all households in 500 cities. Water supply contracts for 494 projects worth 19,428 core awarded: FM Jaitley
11.53 am: Smart city mission aims at creating 100 smart cities – 99 cities have been selected: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.52 am: Have proposed construction of tunnel under the Se-La pass in Arunachal Pradesh: FM Jaitley
11.51 am: Proposal to develop 10 prominent tourist destinations as Iconic tourism destinations: Arun Jaitley
11.51 am: Cleaning Of Ganga Is Of National Importance. Have Sanctioned 187 Projects Under NAMAMI Ganga: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.50 am: India’s sunrise food processing sector shines in Budget 2018! Allocation in FOOD PROCESSING doubled from Rs 715 Cr to Rs 1400 Cr in 2018-18; state-of-the art facilities proposed to be set up in 42 mega food parks.
11.49 am: 115 aspiration districts identified taking various indices of development into consideration, quality of life to be improved in these districts: FM Arun Jaitley
11.48 am: Target of 3 lakh crore for lending under PM MUDRA Yojana: FM Arun Jaitley
11.47 am: Technology will be the biggest driver in improving the quality of education. We propose to increase the digital intensity in education and move gradually from blackboard to digital board: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.46 am: Allocation for SC welfare – Rs. 56,619 cr and Rs. 39,135 cr for ST welfare: FM Arun Jaitley
11.45 am: 24 new govt medical colleges and hospitals to be set up by upgrading existing district hospitals: FM Arun Jaitley
11.44 am: Mass formalization of MSME sector is happening after demonetization and GST: FM Arun Jaitley
11.43 am: Integrated B.Ed programme to be initiated for teachers, to improve quality of teachers: FM Arun Jaitley
11.43 am: Scheme for revitalizing school infrastructure, with an allocation of 1 lakh crore rupees over four years. Called RISE – Revitalizing Infrastructure in School Education: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.43 am: By 2022, every block with more than 50% ST population and at least 20,000 tribal people will have ‘Ekalavya’ school at par with Navodaya Vidayalas: FM Arun Jaitley
11.42 am: Govt to set up two new full-fledged Schools of Planning and Architecture: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.39 am: Govt plans to construct 2 crore more toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.38am: Rs 2600 crore for groundwater irrigation: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.37 am: Rs 14.34 lakh crores for rural livelihood, 321 crore person-days of work to be created: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.37 am: Healthcare gets a big boost by Arun Jaitley. He said that over 10 crores from poor and vulnerable covered in the scheme. Rs 5 lakh per family per year will be provided. This is world’s largest government funded healthcare programme!
11.35 am: FM Arun Jaitley proposes to raise institutional credit for agriculture to Rs 11 Lakh Crore for 2018-19
11.35 am: We have constructed 6 crore toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission, our aim is to build 2 crore more toilets: FM Arun Jaitley
11.35 am: Govt to launch ‘Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education by 2022: FM Jaitley
11.34 am: Govt proposes to increase the target of providing free LPG connections to 8 crore to poor women: FM Jaitley
11.33 am: Govt plans to construct 2 crore more toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission: Arun Jaitley
11.32 am: Air Pollution in Delhi NCR is a cause for concern, special scheme will be implemented to support Govts of Haryana, Punjab, UP and Delhi NCT to address it and subsidize machinery for management of crop residue: FM Jaitley.
11.32 am: FM Arun Jaitley proposes to raise institutional credit for agriculture to Rs 11 Lakh Crore for 2018-19
11.30 am: Govt to subsidise removal of crop residue to tackle the problem of #pollution due to burning of crop residue: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.28 am: Govt to set up fishery & aquaculture infrastructure fund; also to set up animal husbandry infrastructure fund with a total corpus of Rs. 10,000 crore: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.27 am: Bamboo is green gold: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
11.26 am: The focus is on low-cost farming, higher MSP. The Minimum Support Price of all crops shall be increased to at least 1.5 times that of the production cost: FM Arun Jaitley
11.25 am: Hard work of farmers resulted in a record production of more than 275 million tonnes of food grain and about 300 million tonnes of horticultural produce: FM Arun Jaitley
11.23 am: 470 APMCs To Be Connected To E-NAM By March. E-NAM To Be Exempt From APMC Rules. To Upgrade 22,000 Rural Hubs To Grameen Agricultural Markets. To Create Mechanism For Post-Harvest Facilities. To Set Up Rs 2,000 Cr Agri Market Infra Fund: FM Arun Jaitley
11.22 am: Rs 500 crore for Operation Green: FM Arun Jaitley
11.21 am: India’s Direct Benefit Transfer scheme is a global success story: FM Jaitley
11.21 am: Government proposes to launch ‘Operation Greens’ on the lines of Operation Flood’: FM Arun Jaitley
11.21 am: India’s Direct Benefit Transfer scheme is a global success story: FM Jaitley
11.18 am: Government proposes to launch ‘Operation Greens’ on the lines of Operation Flood’: FM Arun Jaitley
11.17 am: Agri-Market Development Fund with a corpus of 2000 crore to be set up for developing agricultural markets: FM Jaitley
11.16 am: Ujjwala Yojana helped millions of poor get free LPG connection: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.16 am: PM Narendra Modi has always stressed on the importance of good governance. This vision has inspired Government agencies to carry out several reforms: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.15 am: We are not only focussing on ‘Ease of Doing Business’ but also ‘Ease of Living’ : Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.15 am: We have decided to give 1.5 times the cost incurred to farmers as MSP. This will help increase farmer incomes: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.11 am: Manufacturing sector is back on growth path; Exports are expected to grow by 15% in 2017-18 : Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.14 am: The average growth rate of our government in the last 3 years reached 7.5 percent, the Indian economy of $ 2.5 trillion: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.12 am: Government will create a mechanism, that is expected to double the income of farmers by the year 2022: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.11 am: We hope to grow at 7.2% – 7.5% in the second half of 2017-18: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.10 am: Journey Of Economic Reforms Has Been Challenging. Natural Resources Being Allocated In A Transparent Manner. Journey In The Last Few Years Challenging & Rewarding. FDI Inflow In India Has Been Gone Up In Past Few Yrs: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.09 am: Government has implemented a series of fundamental structural reforms: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
11.08 am: Govt has successfully implemented series of structural reforms as a result of which India is one of the fastest growing economies of the world: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.07 am: With the introduction of the GST, the indirect tax system has been made simpler: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.06 am: We pledged to give India an honest and clean govt; we promised to reduce poverty and create strong and New India: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.03 am: Indian economy has performed very well since our Govt took over in may 2014, It is now the seventh largest in the world: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
11.03 am: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley lauds India’s growth. Jaitley talks about IMF’s India’s projection at 7.2%.
11.00 am: Arun Jaitley begins his speech in Lok Sabha.
10.58 am: Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan arrive at the Parliament.
10.55 am: Just minutes to go before Finance Minister Arun Jaitley present the Union Budget 2018 in the parliament.
10.53 am: PM Narendra Modi and Union Ministers Sushma Swaraj and Ram Vilas Paswan arrived at the Parliament. Check pictures.
10.50 am: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley leaves for Lok Sabha where he will present Budget 2018 at 11:00 am.
10.45 am: Track all the updates about the Union Budget 2018 in Hindi here.
10.35 am: In the cabinet meeting ahead of the Union Budget 2018, the annual financial document has got clearance. Cabinet meeting over at parliament. Arun Jaitley is all set now to present the India Budget 2018 at 11 am today.
10.26 am: Copies of Union Budget 2018 being checked by security inside Parliament premises.
After Budget 2018 will your income tax go up or down? Find out with this Income Tax calculator
10.20 am: Cabinet meeting begins inside Parliament ahead of Union Budget 2018.
10.19 am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj reach Parliament House, will attend the cabinet meeting ahead of the Union Budget 2018.
10.18 am: For the first time ever, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is likely to break tradition and deliver his maiden Hindi Budget speech today. Conventionally, ever since Independence, Finance Ministers have delivered their speeches in English, but FM Jaitley might go against all odds and deliver his speech in Hindi. Read here.
10.15 am: Government’s 1st focus has been on agriculture & rural development, focus has to be on implementation, which is on states – biggest challenge is to link farmers to market so that more agricultural markets come up & become closer to the farmer: Former Economic Affairs Secretary and India’s Sherpa For G20 Shaktikanta Das
10.10 am: I don’t expect a populist Budget, the indications are very clear from previous track record and PM’s recent comments. My view is that this will be a fiscally responsible Budget: Former Economic Affairs Secretary and India’s Sherpa For G20 Shaktikanta Das.
10.05 am: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley arrives at the Parliament. Check pictures.
9:55AM: Post the tabling of Economic Survey 2018 by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Morgan Stanley in its analysis said, “We think that policy makers will likely take a pause on fiscal consolidation,keeping the fiscal deficit target at around 3.2-3.4% of GDP for F2018 and F2019. Beyond the headline deficitnumbers, investors would also be watching for signs of redistributive spending, particularly for rural households. In our view, it would be important to ensure that the efficacy of these social spending schemes is maintained or improved, so as to limit the attendant impact on macro stability.”
9.50 am: More visuals of the documents related to budget at the Parliament.
9.45 am: Documents related to Union Budget 2018 arrive at the Parliament. Check visuals.
9.40 am: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley calls on President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan before the presentation of India Budget 2018.
9.35 am: The list of documents in the Budget: (A) Annual Financial Statement (B) Demands for Grants (C) Appropriation Bill (D) Finance Bill (E) Memorandum Explaining the Provisions in the Finance Bill (F) Macro-Economic Framework Statement (G) Fiscal Policy Strategy Statement (H) Medium-Term Fiscal Policy Statement (I) Medium-Term Expenditure Framework Statement (J) Expenditure Profile (K) Receipts Budget. Check Budget 2018: India budget at a glance.
9.20 am: Ahead of the Union Budget 2018, Sensex starts on a positive note at 36,127.20, Nifty at 11,067.25. Track the effect of budget 2018 on the stock market here.
9.10 am: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley reaches North Block. At 11 am today, he will present the budget 2018.
Know how Arun Jaitley’s Budget 2018 will impact your tax liability with this Income Tax Calculator
9.00 am: More visuals of the briefcase carrying documents relating to the Union Budget 2018.
Income tax impact of Budget 2018. Calculate gain or loss with this Income Tax Calculator
8.55 am: Visuals of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley with the iconic briefcase leaving from Ministry of Finance to Parliament to present the Union Budget 2018.
Budget 2018: Stocks to Buy today – ICICI Bank, Escorts, NDTV, L&T, TV18 Broadcast, IDBI Bank, ONGC, Hindustan Copper. Track all market movements here.
8.50 am: Prior to presentation of Union Budget, Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Aviation told CNBC-TV18 that the government has laid down a roadmap for privatisation of Air India and is committed to deadlines on its privatisation. He said there will be a winning bidder by the end of June. On Budget 2018, he said that it needs to be looked like a political document.
8.47 am: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley arrives at the Ministry of Finance. He will be presenting the Union Budget 2018 in the Parliament today.
8.43 am: Visual of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley leaving his residence. He will now visit President Ram Nath Kovind before heading towards the Parliament to present the Union Budget 2018.
8.40 am: Ahead of the budget 2018, Minister of State (Finance), Shiv Pratap Shukla said, “It will be a good budget. It will be for the benefit of the common people.”
8.30 am: Visuals outside Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s residence in Delhi. He will be presenting the Union Budget 2018-19 in the Parliament today.
8.15 am: Last year, for the first time in independent India, Railway Budget was presented with the Union Budget. A big boost to the Indian Railways is expected in this budget as well, catch all the LIVE updates about Railway budget here.
8.00 am: In a first, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to give the fifth budget speech in Hindi to directly connect with masses, as per reports.
Budget 2018 Live Streaming Online: Watch Arun Jaitley’s speech, first time in Hindi
7.45 am: From income tax slab, jobs, 7th Pay commission, mobile price, home appliances to airfares, common man wants maximum benefits from FM Jaitley. Catch the LIVE updates of Budget 2018 that concerns the common man.
7.30 am: India Budget 2018 is crucial for all sectors, including the education sector. Previous year’s Budget saw a 10% increase in overall allocation for education from Rs 72,394 crore in 2016 to Rs 79,686 crore. Read what students expect from Finance Minister Arun Jaitley from the Union Budget 2018.
7.15 am: Along with the Union Budget 2018, the Narendra Modi government will implement the much-praised e-way bill system in the country. The implementation of the e-way Bill fulfills a dual purpose: one is to curb tax evasion and second, is to have seamless movement of goods across states.
7.00 am: Arun Jaitley, Union Finance Minister, will answer questions regarding the Union Budget 2018 at 7 pm today. You can ask questions about the budget on Twitter with the hashtag #AskYourFM.
#IndiaBudget2018 The Union Finance Minister,Shri @arunjaitley will reply to the questions on General Budget at 7pm tomorow ,1st February, 2018. So Tweet your questions on #AskYourFM pic.twitter.com/WRT7wAFiEm
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) January 31, 2018
6.45 am: In the last year’s union budget, Arun Jaitley announced that Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP) to get a whopping Rs 4000 crore and the Skill Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement or STRIVE to get Rs 2200 crore.
6.30 am: As per the FinancialExpress.com’s pre-Budget 2018 survey on Union Budget 2018, a whopping 19 out of 21 experts expect the budgetary allocation to the agriculture sector to be significantly increased. Check what the Modi government has in store in the budget 2018 in pre-Budget 2018 survey.
6:01 am: Budget 2018 is India’s first Budget post-GST. Hence, it is being keenly watched as what Jaitley will propose to boost India’s growth.
5.30 am: Previously, Arun Jaitley had set out the target to lower the fiscal deficit to 3.2 per cent of the GDP in the current fiscal and to 3 per cent in 2018-19. He has a huge target now of narrowing one of Asia’s largest budget deficits. Failing which, India may India may fall on the wrong side of global investors and credit rating agencies.
WATCH| Brief History Of Budget: 10 Interesting Facts You Shouldn’t Miss
5.00 am: Ahead of the Budget, domestic equities witnessed profit-taking on Wednesday as market participants remained on the sidelines. BSE-Sensex dropped 69 points to end at 35,965.02, while Nifty lost 22 points at 11,027.70.
4.30 am: A day before the Budget, rupee broke out of its two-day consolidative trading range. It managed to end higher by 2 paise at 63.58 against the US dollar.
4.00 am: On the Budget Day, Opposition leaders are likely meet under the chair of Sonia Gandhi to discuss a joint strategy for the ongoing Budget. Sources on Wednesday said he is likely to be held in Parliament Library Building in the evening after the presentation of the Union Budget Arun Jaitley.
3:30 am: This year government managed to achieve its target with stake sale of HPCL to ONGC – hence for next year even Rs 80000 crore would be difficult to achieve,” says Siddharth Khemka, Head – Retail Research, Motilal Oswal.
3.00 am: Another Survey carried out by Financial Express Digital found that Jaitley is expected to set an ambitious disinvestment target for FY19. As many as 16 out of 21 experts said in the pre-Budget survey that Jaitley would set an ambitious target for the Budget. “While they have managed to achieve FY18 disinvestment target, most likely they would continue with the current run rate of Rs 80000 crore.
2.30 am: In a survey carried out by Financial Express Digital, 18 out of 21 experts said that the Budget 2018 will have measures to boost job creation. Interestingly, as many as 19 experts said that the budget will have significant budgetary resources allocated to agriculture. Majority of experts also said that the Budget would have thrust on infrastructure including housing, which happens to be Modi’s another dream agenda.
2.00 am: In 2015, Jaitley had promised to lower corporate tax rate to 25 per cent from 30 per cent over four years. It remains to be seen if the tax break on capital gains from stock investments may go. Also, it remains to be seen if Jaitley will do something about his 2015 promise in this Budget.
1.30 am: Budget 2018 is arguably the toughest budget for Finance Minister Arun Jaitley since 2014 as the government seeks to address agriculture distress, create jobs and boost growth while at the same time stick to fiscal prudence.
1.00 am: On Wednesday, Edelweiss Group chairman Rashesh Shah, who also holds FICCI, said that the Budget should provide a long-term strategy for non-tax revenue generation. “All these years, successive governments had an ad-hoc approach to non-tax revenue generation. There was no strategy in place. We must widen the non-tax revenue stream in a strategic manner, which none of the governments have tried in the past,” Shah told PTI in an “extensive” interview.
12.30 am: The Last Budget had provision for electoral bonds, to clean up the political finance system. However, several opposition parties attacked the electoral bond proposal, saying it results in any transparency political finance as the names of the donors to parties would remain anonymous. Will Jaitley announce other measures to clean up political finance in this Budget? This also happens to be one of the dream projects of PM Narendra Modi.
12.10 am: Will Budget 2018 provide a policy guideline for inclusion of petrol and diesel in GST? Budget 2018 comes amid high expectations from the industry and the common man, especially job seekers and distressed farmers. There is also some concern among people about price rise of essential fuel like petrol and diesel. It was recently suggested by experts that the inclusion of fuel under GST would help in the decrease of the respective prices of petrol and diesel.
