Under the new regime, people earning up to Rs 5 lakh will pay no tax and those up to Rs 7.5 lakh will pay 10 percent tax, against the present 20 percent. In the Budget, the govt also announced that it will sell a part of its holding in LIC.
In the Union Budget 2019-20 presented today, FM Nirmala Sitharaman laid out a 16-point action to set the agriculture sector up for better times. An allocation of Rs 2.83 lakh crore will be made for the agriculture sector, the FM announced.
"With renewed vigour, under PM's leadership, we commit ourselves to present the people of India with all humility and dedication. People have reposed faith in our economic policy," she added.
The government is widely expected to raise spending on infrastructure and cut some personal tax to spur consumer demand and investment.
In July last year, Sitharaman had said that the Modi government is not a "suitcase-carrying government", in an apparent jibe at the past dispensations.
It is the maiden budget for Sitharaman. She is the second woman finance minister after Indira Gandhi to do so in the history of independent India. Indira Gandhi held the Finance portfolio while being the Prime Minister.
Presenting the first full-fledged Union Budget of Narendra Modi 2.0 government in Parliament, Sitharaman said from no single Indian institute in top 200 universities ranking until five years ago, the country has three institutions in the top 200 global institutions bracket.
