Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget 2017, his fourth annual budget. Here are the few highlights of this year’s budget: Income Tax rate cut to 5 pc for individuals having income between Rs.2.5 lakh to Rs.5 lakh; Revenue deficit reduced to 2.1 pc from 2.3 pc for 2016-17; More steps will be taken to benefit farmers and the weaker sections; budget being presented during weak global economy; Pace of remonetisation has picked up; demonetisation effects will not spill over to next year; Functional autonomy of the railways to be maintained; 36 pc increase in FDI flow; forex reserves at USD 361 billion in January enough to cover 12 month’s needs; World Bank expects GDP growth rate at 7.6 pc in FY18 and 7.8 pc in FY19; For senior citizens, Aadhaar based health cards will be issued; New metro rail policy to be unveiled; Unmanned railway level crossings to be eliminated by 2020; FIPB will be abolished; No transaction above Rs.3 lakh in cash will be allowed as suggested by SIT and maximum amount of cash donation a political party can receive will be Rs.2000 from any one source as part of effort to clean political funding.

(Economic Times)