Budget 2018 decoded: 15 goods, 3 bads and one ugly move from finance minister Arun Jaitley

Like every Budget, this one too has its positives and negatives. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented a mixed bag of a Budget for the financial year 2018-19, including the good, the bad and the ugly. Read on to know whom the Budget has made happy, who is sad, and who has been devastated:

The Good
1. Minimum support price for Kharif crops hiked by 1.5 times
2. No TDS for senior citizens on FDs and post office deposits upto Rs 50,000.

3. Rise in custom duty on mobile phones from 15% to 20%. This will help domestic manufacturers.
4. Standard deduction of Rs 40000 for salaried people
4. No legal status for crypto-currencies.
5. Package worth Rs 7100 crore for the textile sector.
6. The government to contribute 12% of wages for new employees for Employee Provident Fund.
7. Free gas connection for 8 crore poor women under Ujwala scheme.
8. Lower tax rate of 25 per cent to companies with a reported turnover up to Rs 250 crore.
9. 100% tax deduction to companies registered as farmer-producer companies with turnover of Rs 100 crore.
10. Infrastructure outlay increased from Rs 4.94 lakh crore to almost Rs 6 lakh crore. 11. Expansion in airport capacity by five times To handle 1 billion passengers.
12. Elimination of 4,267 unmanned rail crossings at broad gauge network.
13. Rs 56,000 crore for SCs and Rs 39,000 crore for STs.
14. Ayushman Bharat Programme. Rs 5 lakh/year per family for 10 crore families for health expenses.
15. Deduction for senior citizens increased to Rs 50,000 for medical insurance.

The bad
1. No change in personal income taxes. The middle class had expected change in tax slabs while others had expected raising of exemption limit.
2. The government has opted for wider fiscal deficit at 3.5 per cent of GDP for 2018-19 and projected 2018-19 deficit at 3.3 per cent of GDP. Higher fiscal deficit not good for government credibility and FDI among other things.
3. No tax cut for big corporates which could have helped revive private investment as well as create more jobs.

The ugly
Govt introduces LTCG tax of 10% on capital gains over Rs1 lakh