HIGHLIGHTS OF UNION BUDGET 2011-2012

POSITIVE HIGHLIGHTS
• Excise duty to be reduced from 10% to 5% on parts of specified machinery
• Surcharge for companies cut to 5 per cent, from 7.5 per cent
• Citizens over 80 years to have exemption limit of Rs 5 lakh
• Special incentives for hybrid vehicle makers if manufacturing done in India to be positive for auto companies
• Crude palm used in sports exempted from customs duty to be positive for palm oil companies
• Duty reduced on hybrid & electric cars along with batteries imported for such vehicles
• Senior Citizen Age Limit reduced from 65 years to 60 years for Income Tax purposes
• Basic customs duty on agricultural machinery reduced to 4.5 per cent from 5 per cent
• No import duty on ship parts positive for SCI
• Tax exemption limit for senior citizens raised to Rs 2.5 lakh from 2.4 lakh
• Basic food and fuel and precious stones, gold and silver jewellery to be exempted from central excise duty
• Nominal 1 per cent central excise duty on 130 items entering the tax net LED to cost less

NEGATIVE HIGHLIGHTS

• EXPENSIVE: International Air Travel
• EXPENSIVE: Domestic Air Travel
• Tax on life insurance service providers could be negative for insurance companies
• Travel, Healthcare to become expensive due to increased service tax
• Lack of FDI in retail was a disappointment
• Air travel to cost more
• Branded clothes may cost more
• Rise in MAT to hurt RIL, GVK Power, telcos

OTHERS HIGHLIGHTS

Tax exemption limit raised to Rs 1.8 lakh, from Rs 1.60 lakh for individual tax papers.

• For senior citizens, the qualifying age reduced to 60 years and exemption limit raised to Rs 2.50 lakh.
• Citizens over 80 years to have exemption limit of Rs 5 lakh.
• Surcharge for companies cut to 5 per cent, from 7.5 per cent.
• A new revised income tax return form 'Sugam' to be introduced for small tax papers.
• Service tax retained at 10 per cent; duty exemptions to be withdrawn on various items.
• Net loss from direct tax proposals estimated at Rs 11,500 crore for the year.
• Excise and customs duty proposals to result in the net gain of Rs 7,300 crore.
• Standard rate of central excise (rpt) excise duty maintained at 10 per cent; No change in CENVAT rates.
• Nominal one per cent central excise duty on 130 items entering the tax net. Basic food and fuel and precious stones, gold and silver jewellery will be exempted.
• Peak rate of customs duty maintained at 10 per cent in view of the global economic situation.
• Basic customs duty on agricultural machinery reduced to 4.5 per cent from 5 per cent.
• Service tax widened to cover hotel accommodation above Rs 1,000 per day, A/C restaurants serving liquor, some category of hospitals, diagnostic tests.
• Service tax on air travel increased by Rs 50 for domestic travel and Rs 250 for international travel in economy class. On higher classes, it will be ten per cent flat.

RAIL BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS

1. No hike in passenger fare and freight rates.
2. Highest ever Plan outlay of Rs. 57, 630 crore proposed for Railways.
3. Rs. 9,583 crore provided for new lines.
4. 1300 km new lines, 867 km doubling of lines and 1017 km gauge conversion targeted in 2011-12.
5. 56 new Express Trains, 3 new Shatabdis and 9 Duronto trains to be introduced.
6. AC Double Decker services on Jaipur-Delhi and Ahmedabad-Mumbai routes.
7. New Super AC Class to be introduced.
8. A new portal for e-ticketing to be launched shortly. Booking charges will be cheaper with a charge of only Rs. 10 for AC classes and Rs.5 for others.
9. Pan-India multi-purpose smart card "Go India" to be introduced.
10. 236 more stations to be upgraded as Adarsh Stations.
11. 47 additional suburban services in Mumbai and 50 new suburban services proposed for Kolkata.
12. Two new passenger terminals in Kerala and one each in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal proposed.
13. Feasibility study to raise speed of passenger trains to 160-200 kmph to be undertaken.
14. A special package of two new trains and two projects for the States managing trouble free run of trains through out the year.
15. Anti Collision Devise (ACD) sanctioned to cover 8 zonal railways.
16. GPS Based 'Fog Safe' Device to be deployed.
17. All unmanned level crossing upto 3000 to be eliminated.
18. All India Security Help line on a single number set up.
19. All state capitals in the North-East except Sikkim to be connected by Rail in next seven years.
20. A Bridge Factory in J & K and a state-of-art Institute for Tunnel and Bridge Engineering is proposed at Jammu.
21. A Diesel Locomotive Centre will be set-up in Manipur.
22. A Centre of Excellence in Software at Darjeeling proposed under the aegis of CRIS.
23. Rail Industrial Parks at Jellingham and New Bongaigaon proposed.
24. Additional mechanized laundry units to be set up at Nagpur, Chandhigarh and Bhopal.
25. 700 MW gas-based power plant to be set up at Thakurli in Maharashtra.
26. 18,000 Wagons to be procured during 2011-12.
27. A scheme for socially desirable projects, 'Pradhan Mantri Rail Vikas Yojana' with Non-lapsable fund proposed.
28. 10,000 shelter units proposed for track side dwellers in Mumbai, Sealdah, Siliguri, Tiruchirapalli on pilot basis.
29. Concession to physically handicapped persons to be extended on Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains.
30. Concession of 50% to press correspondents with family increased to twice a year.
31. Senior Citizens concession to be hiked from 30 % to 40 %.
32. Medical facilities extended to dependent parents of the Railway employees.
33. Scholarship for Girl child of Group-D railway employees increased to Rs.1200 per month.
34. 20 additional hostels for children of railway employees to be set up.
35. Recruitment for 1.75 lakh vacancies of Group 'C' and 'D' including to fill up backlog of SC/ST initiated, 16,000 ex-servicemen to be inducted by March 2011.
36. A separate sports cadre to be created.
37. 2011-12 declared 'Year of Green Energy' for Railways.
38. Freight loading of 993 MT and passenger growth of 6.4 % estimated for 2011-12.
39. Gross Traffic Receipts at Rs.1,06,239 crore, exceeding one lakh crore mark for the first time estimated.
40. Ordinary Working Expenses assessed at Rs. 73,650 crore.