New Delhi: Following are the highlights of Budget 2009-10:
* IT exemption limit raised
* Limit raised by Rs 15,000 for sr.citizens (65 yrs & above)
* Limit raised by Rs 10,000 for general tax payers & women
* 10% surcharge on personal income tax scrapped
* Fringe Benefit Tax, Commodities Transaction Tax abolished
* Corporate Tax unchanged; Minimum Alternate Tax hiked to 15%
* Legal services brought under Service Tax net
* Cosmetic & plastic surgery become taxable services
* Rs 3472 cr for Commonwealth Games, up from Rs 2112 cr
* LCD TVs to become cheaper; Set-Top boxes costlier
* Stimulus for print media for another six months
* Branded jewellery to become cheaper; excise duty goes
* Govt plans to bring back economy to high growth of 9%
* GDP growth dipped to 6.7% in FY'09
* Fiscal deficit up from 2.7% to 6.8% of GDP
* Total fiscal stimulus in 2008-09 amounts to Rs 1, 86,000 cr
* Return to fiscal prudence at the earliest
* Defence gets Rs 1, 41,703 cr, up 34%
* Govt for providing Rs 100 a day as wages under NREGA
* Allocation of Rs 39,100 cr to be made for NREGA, up 87%
* NREGA coverage increased to 4.74 crore households in FY'09
* Work on National Food Security scheme has begun
* Allocations for highways being stepped up by 23 per cent
* Direct tax proposal revenue neutral
* Govt to gain Rs 2,000 cr from indirect tax proposals.