Budget 2019: Here's what favours you and what does not

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Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday presented the first budget of the new Narendra Modi government.

Announcing key measures for the common man, Sitharaman asserted that the government's promise to give power to all rural families by 2022. She said even farmers need to have 'Ease of Doing Business' and 'Ease of Living'.

Also read: Budget 2019: Petrol, diesel to be costlier; tax on super-rich, gold imports

Here is a quick look at what goes in your favour and what does not:

The positives -

• Tax rate reduced to 25 per cent for companies with annual turnover up to Rs 400 crore
• Those who don't have PAN can file tax returns using Aadhaar
• Pre-filling of Income-tax Returns for faster, more accurate tax returns
• Additional deduction up to Rs 1.5 lakhs for interest paid on loans borrowed up to March 31, 2020, for purchase of house valued up to Rs 45 lakh
• Appropriate class of persons exempted from the anti-abuse provisions of Section 50CA and Section 56 of the Income Tax Act.
• Funds raised by start-ups to not require scrutiny from Income Tax Department
• No tax on income up to Rs 5 lakh
• One woman in every SHG will be made eligible for a loan up to Rs. 1 lakh under the MUDRA Scheme
• Customs duty reduced on certain raw materials such as inputs for artificial kidney and disposable sterilised dialyser and fuels for nuclear power plants, etc.

The negatives:

• Basic customs duty increased on cashew kernels, PVC, tiles, auto parts, marble slabs, optical fibre cable, CCTV camera, etc.
• Exemptions from Customs duty on certain electronic items now manufactured in India withdrawn
• End use-based exemptions on palm stearin, fatty oils have been withdrawn
• Exemptions to various kinds of papers withdrawn
• 5 per cent basic Customs duty imposed on imported books
• Capital goods required for the manufacture of specified electronic goods
• Customs duty on gold, silver and other precious metals increased
• Additional excise duty and road and infrastructure cess of one rupee will be imposed on petrol and diesel
• Hike in the prices of cigars, chewing tobacco, cigarettes

On a positive note, Nirmala Sitharaman also proposed the development of an e-verification mechanism to ascertain the identity of an investor and the source of his/her funds. She said that the issue of establishing the identity of the investor and source of his funds will be resolved by putting the aforesaid mechanism in place.

Also read: Budget 2019: 10 important points to focus on

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Edited by mid-day online desk with inputs from Agencies