Interim Budget 2019: Full tax rebate on income up to Rs 5 lakh, says FM Piyush Goyal

A full tax rebate has been announced for those with an income of up to Rs 5 lakh while those with incomes of up to Rs 6.5 lakh need not pay tax if specific investments are made.

Besides this, in a big boost to the working class, Rs 3000 assured pension has been announced for around 10 crore workers.

In a boost to the rural sector, farmers will get a direct income of Rs 6000 per year even as the budget had provisions of loan relief for farmers. Defence budget has also been hiked to highest ever of Rs 3 lakh crore.

This is the last Interim Budget of the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the Lok Sabha elections due by May.

The key highlights from Finance Minister Piyush Goyal’s budget speech:

• Individual taxpayers having annual income upto Rs 5 lakhs to get full tax rebate.
• Individuals with gross income of up to ₹6.5 lakh need not pay any tax if they make investments in provident funds and prescribed equities.
• Standard deduction for salaried persons raised to Rs 50,000 from Rs 40,000.
• TDS threshold on interest on bank and post office deposits raised from Rs 10,000 to Rs 40,000.
• No TDS on house rent up to Rs 2.4 lakh: Piyush Goyal in Budget 2019 speech.
• Group of Ministers is examining how prospective house buyers can benefit under Goods & Services Tax (GST).
• Defence budget enhanced beyond Rs 3 lakh crore.
• Mega Pension Yojana to provide monthly pension of Rs 3000/month, with contribution of Rs 100/month, for workers of unorganized sector after 60 years of age.
• Gratuity payment limit has been increased from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh.
• Under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, Rs 6000/year for every farmer will be transferred directly to farmers’ bank accounts in 3 installments for farmers with less than 2 hectares landholding.
• Ayushman Bharat, the world’s largest healthcare programme launched to provide medical care to nearly 50 crore people, resulted in Rs 3,000 crore savings for poor families.