Budget 2013 - India

Mr. P Chidambaram, the Finance Minister of India, presenting the budget 2013 on February 28, 2013. The main highlights of the budget for the common man are as follows:

• Implementation of DTC again deferred
• First home loan of up to Rs 25 lacs will get an additional Rs 1 lac interest deduction
• Income Tax Sops on the equity investments under Rajiv Gandhi Equity savings scheme extended to Mutual Funds
• Income level raised to Rs 12 lacs from Rs 10 lacs for Rs 50,000 exemption for the individuals under RGESS
• No changes in Income Tax rates or slabs
• Rs 2,000 credit for those earning up to Rs 5 lacs per annum
• Super rich tax: 10% surcharge on income above Rs 1 cr
• DDT surcharge raised to 10% from 5%
• TDS at 1% of land deals over 50 lacs
• To reduce STT on equity futures, MF units - STT reduced from 0.17% to 0.1%.
•  Cigarettes and SUVs will get costlier
• Custom duty on imported motor vehicles hiked to 100% from 75%
• Mobile phones, priced above Rs 2,000 will get more expensive
• To exempt vocational courses, testing services from Service Tax net
• Gold duty free limit raised to Rs 50,000 for men and to Rs 1 lac for women travelers
• Service tax to be imposed on all AC restaurants

 To summarize, it is clear that there was nothing to offer for a common middle class Indian.