UNION BUDGET 2021 - KEY HIGHLIGHTS

World Tax February 01, 2021

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is presenting Union Budget 2021-22 today, at a time when India is recovering from the Covid-19 crisis. Here are Union Budget 2021 key updates and highlights -

- 100 more cities to be added in the next 3 years to the gas distribution network.

- Divestment Target – 1.75 Lakhs Crores.

- Foreign Direct Investment in Insurance sectors hiked to 74%.

- Bank Recap allocation – 20,000 Crores.

- Union Budget 2021: Seven textile parks to come up over three years.

- FM says 217 projects worth over Rs 1 lakh crore completed under National Infrastructure Pipeline.

- Budget 2021: Government has committed Rs 1.97 lakh crore for PLI schemes covering 13 sectors. Further 7 textile parks will be launched over three years. Sitharaman said, ' A scheme of ega Investments Textile Park will be launched in addition to PLI Scheme which will create world class infrastructure with plug and play facilities to enable global champions in exports.'

- Government Plan to LIC IPO in FY 2021-22.

- Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman's budget comprised of a massive impetus for Highways and Road Transport projects. The minister set aside Rs 1.03 lakh crores from the government exchequer for the sector, of which a mammoth share was allocated to the states which are due for legislative assembly elections this year. Here are the numbers for some of these states: Assam - Rs 34,000 cr allocated for highway development, West Bengal

- Rs 25,000 cr allocated for highway development, Tamil Nadu - 3,500 kilometres of highway corridor in Tamil Nadu, Kerala - Rs 65,000 cr for highway development.

- Proposal to complete E-W freight corridors will scale up warehouse business Abhilash Pillai, Partner Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, Proposal to complete Eastern and Western Freight corridors by June 2022 will scale up warehouse business. Hope the government will bring up a single-window clearance for setting up more warehouses, which currently takes more than 3 months to have all approvals in place. Expansion of Phase 2 metro in 5 cities will witness mixed-use development around these metro corridors. This will also help SmartCity missions and create more job opportunities.

- FY 2021-22, Government targeted to Fiscal Deficit 6.8%.

- Record sum of Rs 1,10,055 crore to be provided for Indian Railways, out of which ₹ 1,07,100 is for capital expenditure only, the finance minister said during her Budget speech.

- Senior citizens above 75 years of age, who are only getting pension as a means of income, will not be required to file their ITRs. Paying out the pension will deduct the tax on their behalf at source.