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NEW DELHI: Following are the highlights of Budget 2009-10.
* Govt plans to bring back economy to high growth of 9%
* GDP growth dipped to 6.7% in FY’09
* FM to make pre-budget talks with state FMs annual affair
* Fiscal deficit up from 2.7% to 6.8% of GDP
* Return to fiscal prudence at the earliest
* ‘Aam admi’ is focus of all programmes and schemes .
* IT exemption limit raised; Rs 15,000 for Sr.citizens
* Limit raised by Rs 10,000 for tax payers, including women
* 10% surcharge on personal income tax scrapped* Fringe Benefit Tax abolished
* No change in corporate tax
* Defence gets Rs 1,41,703 cr, up 34%
* Total fiscal stimulus in 2008-09 amounts to Rs 1,86,000 cr
* IIFCL to evolve mechanism for increased funding of infra
* IIFCL to re-finance commercial bank loans up to 60 per cent in critical projects through PPP to tune of Rs 1,00,000 cr
* Allocations for highways being stepped up by 23 per cent
* Funds for housing, amenities for urban poor up Rs 3,973 cr
* Funds for JN Urban Renewal Mission up 87% to Rs 12,887 cr
* Assistance for storm-water drainage project up by Rs 300 cr
* Farm credit target up at Rs 3,25,000 cr from Rs 2,87,000 cr
* Interest rates incentive to farmers to repay loans on time
* Additional Rs 1,000 crore for accelerated irrigation scheme
* Export Credit Guarantee scheme extended till March 2010 * 2% interest subvention (IS) scheme extended till March 2010
* IS scheme to cover 7 job-oriented sectors, including textile, handicrafts and handlooms.
* Commodity Transaction Tax abolished
* New pension system trust exempted from STT; DDT
* Minimum Alternate Tax hiked to 15% from 10%
* Tax holiday on petro sector extended to natural gas
* 100% tax deduction on political donation * Stimulus for print media for another six months * Fertiliser subsidy to be nutrient-based, not price
* Expert Grp to form viable pricing for imported petro goods
* Banks and insurance firms to remain in public sector
* Rs 100 cr one-time grant to expand banks in unbanked areas* Govt committed to provide Rs 100 a day as wages under NREGA
* Allocation of Rs 39,100 cr to be made for NREGA
* NREGA coverage increased to 4.74 crore households in FY’09
* Work National Food Security scheme has begun
* Allocation for Bharat Nirman being raised by 45 per cent
* Rs 2,000 cr rural housing fund under National Housing Bank
* Mission for female literacy with focus on minorities, SC/ST * 50% of all rural women to be brought into SHG programmes
* Full interest subsidy for students in select institutions
* Five lakh students to benefit
* Modernisation of national exployment exchanges
* Action for social security to unorganised sector workers
* New pension benefits for 12 lakh jawans and JCOs from July
* One lakh dwelling units for paramilitary forces personnel
* Unique Identification Card to citizens in 12-18 months
* Provision of Rs 120 crore for UIC project
* Rs 2,113 crore allocated for IITs and new IITs
* Rs 3472 cr for Commonwealth Games from Rs 2112 cr
* Customs, excise and service tax base rates unchanged
* For Indira Awas Yojana, allocation increased 63%
* IT returns to be made simpler
* 8 missions being launched under Plan on climate change
* Allocation for market development assistance scheme up 148%
* Allocation for Rural Health Mission raised by Rs 257 cr above interim budget
* Rs 500 cr for rehabilitation of Sri Lankan Tamils
* Rs 1,000 cr for infrastructure in cyclone-hit area in WB
* Total expenditure crosses Rs 10 lakh cr for first time
* Share of direct taxes in revenue increased to 56% in FY’09

MUMBAI: India’s Tata Motors on Sunday announced the entry of luxury British marques Jaguar and Land Rover into India, but insisted there were no plans to assemble them in the country for the time being.Six models — three each from Jaguar and Land Rover — will be sold from Monday in India, which is amongst the world’s fastest-growing global automobile markets.
“This launch ushers in a new breed of vehicles in India, which had been disconnected with consumers here for some years,” Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group, told a news conference in Mumbai.
The Jaguar range includes the XF, XFR and XKR models while the Land Rover brands coming to India will be Rover Discovery 3, Range Rover Sport and the basic Range Rover.
All models will sell for between 6.3 million rupees (about 131,000 dollars) and 9.2 million rupees at a new purpose-built showroom in Mumbai.
“The Jaguar and Land Rover cars had been condemned in the downturn (but) they are terrific brands,” Tata said.
Senior Jaguar and Land Rover executives were reluctant to divulge how many cars they expected to sell in India, where the luxury car market already includes rivals like Italy’s Porsche, Germany’s BMW, Mercedes and Audi.
“India’s premium car market is small but with a huge potential,” said Land Rover Managing Director Phil Popham.
Tata Motors on Friday posted its first consolidated full-year net loss in eight years at 25 billion rupees (520 million dollars), partly blamed on a slump in sales at Jaguar Land Rover, which it bought from Ford last year.
Jaguar Land Rover global sales dropped nearly a third in the 10 months to the end of March to 167,000 vehicles from 246,000 the previous year.
That prompted the company to say it would not rule out further job losses and plant closures in Britain, where the cars are produced.
Jaguar Land Rover chief executive David Smith told reporters the British workforce were “realistic” about the possibility.
“If the market dictates, future jobs and plant shutdowns cannot be ruled out” if the economic situation deteriorates, he added.
Some 2,000 workers have lost their jobs in a tumultuous couple of years for both luxury brands, but Ratan Tata said there were no plans at present to switch production to India to reduce overheads.
“Whether we produce or assemble Jaguar or Land Rover in India will depend on the business case at that time,” he said. “I don’t think we have any plans for the present moment to do so.”