Leaving direct taxes untouched, finance minister P Chidambaram on February 17 slashed excise duty on cars, SUVs and two-wheelers, and capital goods and consumer durables to boost manufacturing and growth. Presenting the interim Union Budget for 2014-15, he also provided service tax exemption for storage and warehousing of rice like it was done in case of paddy last year. Also, blood banks have been exempted from its purview. 

Highlights of the Budget:

• * Fiscal deficit for current fiscal to be 4.6%
• * Revenue deficit estimated at 3% for current fiscal
• * 140m people lifted out of poverty in last 10 years
• * Excise duty on SUVs cut from 30 to 24%, in large and mid-segment cars from 27-24% to 24-20%
• * Excise duty on small cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles cut from 12% to 8%; appropriate cut to be done on chassis, trailers
• * A Rs 100 crore scheme formulated to promote community radio stations
• * RBI must strike a balance between growth and moderating inflation, Chidambaram says
• * We must focus on manufacturing, specially manufacturing for exports: Chidambaram
• * I am disappointed that we could not introduce GST: Chidambaram
• * No changes in tax laws in interim budget
• * Govt has obtained information in 67 cases of illegal offshore accounts of Indians: Chidambaram
• * Excise duty cut from 12 to 10 per cent in capital goods sector to stimulate growth
• * Excise duty on mobile handset to be 6% on CENVAT credit to encourage domestic production
• * Service tax relief storage for warehousing for rice
• * Blood banks to be exempt from service tax
• * Rs 500 crore estimated requirement for implementing one-rank-one-pay scheme for armed forces in 2014-15
• * Rs 6000 crore to rural housing fund, Rs 2000 crore for urban housing fund
• * Minority bank accounts have swelled to 43,53,000 by 2013-14 from 14,15,000 bank accounts 10 years ago
• * Rs 3711 crore for minority affairs; housing and urban poverty alleviation gets Rs 6000 crore
• * Social justice ministry gets Rs 6730 crore; panchayati raj ministry Rs 7000 crore
• * Moratorium on interest on student loans taken before March 31, 2009; to benefit 9 lakh borrowers
• * Public Debt Management Bill ready
• * Fiscal deficit target of 3% to be achieved by 2017
• * Fiscal deficit to be contained at 4.6% of GDP in 2013-14.
• * CAD will be $45 billion in 2013-14
• * Foreign exchange reserves up by $15 billion
• * Foodgrain production estimated at 263 million tons in 2013-14
• * Agriculture credit will cross $45 billion against $41 billion in 2012-13
• * 296 projects worth Rs 6,60,000 crore cleared by Cabinet Committee on Investment by end January 2014
• * Merchandise export to grow by 6.8% to $326 billion
• * 3 more industrial corridors — Chennai-Bangalore, Bangalore-Mumbai, Amritsar-Kolkata — under various stages of implementation
• * GDP growth rate in Q3 and Q4 of 2013-14 will be at least 5.2%
• * Declining fiscal deficit, moderation of CAD, stable exchange rate and increase in project implementation result of hardwork
• * Power capacity rises to 234,600 MW in 10 years
• * Expenditure on education has risen from Rs 10,145 crore 10 years ago to Rs 79,251 crore this year
• * Sugar decontrol, gradual correction of diesel prices, application for new bank licenses, sick electricity distribution companies restructured
• * Average growth under UPA's ten year rule was 6.2 per cent against 5.9 during NDA period of 1999-2004
• * Average growth under UPA-I was 8.4 per cent and UPA-II 6.6 per cent
• * PSUs to achieve record capex of Rs 2,57,645 crore in 2013-14
• * 500 MW fast breeder nuclear reaction in Kalpakkam to be ready shortly; 7 nuclear power reactors under construction
• * National Solar Mission to undertake 4 ultra mega solar power projects in 2014-15
• * Rs 1,200 crore additional assistance to N-E states to be released before end of the year
• * Rs 1,000 crore grant for Nirbhaya Fund will be non-lapsable; another Rs 1,000 crore to be given next fiscal
• * Rs 3,370 crore to transferred to 2.1 crore LPG users
• * Govt committed to Aadhaar-based LPG transfer but scheme on hold temporarily
• * Aadhaar is tool for empowerment
• * Non-plan expenditure to exceed by a small amount in 2013-14
• * 500 MW fast breeder test reactor in Kalpakkam to be ready shortly; 7 nuclear power reactors under construction
• * Plan expenditure will be Rs 5,55,322 crore in 2014-15, unchanged from last fiscal
• * Budgetary support to railways increased from Rs 26,000 crore to Rs 29,000 crore 2014-15
• * Rs 2,46,397 crore allocated for food, fertilizer and fuel subsidy
• * Food subsidy will be Rs 1,15,000 crore for implementation of National Food Security Act
• * Defence allocation increased by 10 per cent to Rs 2.24 lakh crore

For key features of the budget 2014-15, Click Here