India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday unveiled measures to help the poor and tax cuts for the middle class in the annual budget aimed at easing the pain of a government ban on high-value banknotes.
Here are five key figures from the budget.
• The government will aim to provide credit worth 10 trillion rupees ($150 billion) to farmers over the next fiscal year and will waive interest for 60 days.
• A record 3.96 trillion rupees will be spent on infrastructure including modernizing India’s roads, airports and crumbling railways.
• Funding for a government scheme known as MNREGA, which guarantees a certain number of days of work to the rural poor, will rise to a record 480 billion rupees.
• The basic rate of income tax was halved to five percent to help low earners. But those earning more than five million rupees a year will pay a 10 percent tax surcharge.
• Spending on health and welfare will rise to 489 billion rupees as the government seeks to rid India of deadly diseases including leprosy, measles and tuberculosis.

 India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday unveiled measures to help the poor and tax cuts for the middle class in the annual budget aimed at easing the pain of a government ban on high-value banknotes.
Here are five key figures from the budget.
• The government will aim to provide credit worth 10 trillion rupees ($150 billion) to farmers over the next fiscal year and will waive interest for 60 days.
• A record 3.96 trillion rupees will be spent on infrastructure including modernizing India’s roads, airports and crumbling railways.
• Funding for a government scheme known as MNREGA, which guarantees a certain number of days of work to the rural poor, will rise to a record 480 billion rupees.
• The basic rate of income tax was halved to five percent to help low earners. But those earning more than five million rupees a year will pay a 10 percent tax surcharge.
• Spending on health and welfare will rise to 489 billion rupees as the government seeks to rid India of deadly diseases including leprosy, measles and tuberculosis.

Source : Arab News