Budget 2018: New bottoms-up mechanism for farm-gate marketing likely

The Budget 2018-19 may announce haats and organic hubs in 1,000 village clusters across the country.

Modelled on Harihar Haath in Jagdalpur district of Chhattisgarh, these markets will enable villagers to sell their produce directly to consumers, bypassing middlemen, thereby helping them realise a good price for their produce.

Started as a pilot project in 2017, Harihar Haath is a unique bottoms-up approach to farm marketing. It is a consortium of four farmer-producer companies, five cooperatives, and 13 women self-help groups. It has been taking great strides to create a risk-free space for farmers.

The farmers collectively purchase goods from growers and sell them at rates lower than prevailing market prices. Most of the farmers are women, drawn from self-help groups under the Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana of the rural development ministry.

The state and district administrations provide them space for selling their produce. With monthly sales of over Rs 200,000 and profits of over Rs 50,000, Harihar Haath handles 250 customer footfalls per day, and sells 1.5 tonnes of produce daily.

“We want the Harihar Haath model to be replicated in many more places across the country,” an official said.

These clusters are part of the 5,000-odd ones already identified by the Mission Antodaya programme. The mission, which aims to rid 50,000 gram panchayats of poverty in 1,000 days by converging all schemes, was announced in the Budget for 2017-18 by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

It is a state-level initiative for rural transformation to make a difference based on measurable outcomes to the lives of 10 million households in 5,000 rural clusters. The gram panchayats chosen possess a high level of social capital and have the ability to implement rapid rural transformation for poverty elimination.

The mission encourages partnerships with a network of professionals, institutions and enterprises to accelerate the transformation of rural livelihoods. Self-help groups are enablers due to their social capital and their proven capacity for social mobilisation.

The government has started the process of ranking gram panchayats and identifying their basic needs and economic standards so that targeted interventions can be made.

The sorting of 1,000 clusters out of the 5,000 identified will help in creating additional livelihood opportunities in villages. The clusters, yet to be identified, are ones that have a strong agricultural base and where farmers will be encouraged to grow and sell produce free of pesticide and chemicals.

Women farmers and self-help groups along with farmer producer companies will form the backbone of this infrastructure.

Budget 2018: A 15-year, Rs 35.3-trillion plan to put Railways on track

The Indian Railways is working on a Rs 35.3-trillion investment plan by 2032, pushing up the capital expenditure for the ministry by around 92 per cent annually. Going by the ambitious vision, the average annual investment, including capacity addition and modernization, would touch around Rs 2.5 trillion, up from the Rs 1.31 trillion in 2017-18.

This long-term investment will also comprise the modernisation plan of ‘Vision 2030’ and also Rs 8.56-trillion investment target that former minister Suresh Prabhu had kicked off starting 2014-15. “The Indian Railways will require approximately Rs 35.3 trillion by 2032 to create the requisite capacity and modernize the system,” the ministry said in a report to the Parliamentary Standing Committee. The Railways, under Piyush Goyal, has already started the work, aiming to achieve at least 4000 km electrification per year in the coming years.

budget 2018 India : The capex for Railways during 2015-16 and 2016-17 were Rs 935.2 billion and Rs 1.21 trillion, respectively, posting a significant increase in the recent years.

As per the latest plan, railways freight share may zoom from 33 per cent now to around 47 per cent. It has also set a target of increasing the passenger kilometre to 3.3 trillion PKM in 2030, from about 1.13 trillion PKM now. While the completion of dedicated freight corridors would segregate freight and passenger traffic on high density routes, speed of freight trains will increase from 25 km per hour (kmph) to 100 kmph.

With this, train speed is expected to be increased to 160-200 kmph in order to ensure better intercity travel up to 500 km in three to four hours. “In the ten years starting from 2020 to 2030, we are targeting more than 4000 km of new lines, doubling of 10,000 km and almost 100 per cent electrification,” an official said.

Asset monetisation will be one of the key revenue sources with the share of non-fare revenue likely to go up to almost 20 per cent from the current 4 per cent range in the next 12 years. In addition, the upcoming Budget may announce overhauling of the signalling system and implementation of the European Train Control System (ETCS) technology. This could cost the Railways around Rs 600 billion to cover the entire country. Also, a Rs 1-trillion plan has been lined up for commercial development of railway stations.

Of the Rs 8.56 trillion lined up for the first five years of Vision 2030, Rs 4 trillion has already been invested. A majority of this will go towards network decongestion, including freight corridor and electrification, network expansion and safety. In fact, over the next couple of years, at least 8,000 km of old tracks will be replaced, at an estimated cost of Rs 100 billion.

Around 30 per cent of the Rs 8.56-trillion capex for five years is expected to come from budgetary, 28 per cent from debt, and about 15 per cent through internal generation. Indian Railway Finance Corporation is arranging a debt of Rs 2.5 trillion to meet the five-year investment target.

budget 2018: Logistics region wants FM Jaitley to raise regulatory limitations

the world also expects the Narendra Modi authorities to provide a unbroken, transparent digital platform to make sure easy movement of goods and vehicles throughout the united states of america

nowadays, the Narendra Modi-led imperative authorities has delivered in numerous measures to uplift the united states of america’s economic system. It has additionally set the level for unlocking the boom capacity for India’s logistics sector

by means of putting in a devoted logistics division beneath the Ministry of trade & enterprise and granting the arena an infrastructure fame.

Now as the government heads for its last complete finances on this phrases when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley offers Union Budge 2018 on February 1, we would sit up for seeing greater emphasis on enhancing the infrastructure.

ultimate 12 months, we saw the finance minister pronouncing an investment of approximately Rs 39.61 lakh crore in infrastructure development. that is sure to be a boon – now not handiest for express delivery players however for lots industries.

This year, we'd also count on efforts from the government to cut regulatory barriers and provide a seamless, transparent

virtual platform to make certain smooth movement of goods and motors throughout the united states of america. lastly, our price range 2018 expectation is that the finance minister could announce new schemes focused on fiscal incentives to encourage investments in special monetary zones (SEZs). those will allow the non-public quarter to consolidate and expand, and contribute to the economy greater meaningfully.

the writer is dealing with director of courier and logistics business enterprise TCI express

Budget 2018: This is why Maharashtra's drought woes are likely to continue

Even after 20 years, irrigation projects worth Rs 9 billion remain incomplete and now their cost is expected to be more than Rs 50 billion

In many ways, the Lendi irrigation project close to the Andhra Pradesh-Maharashtra border continues to be a prime example of the excruciating delays that have plagued irrigation projects in India.

Conceived in 1987, this major irrigation project was to be completed in 1992. The project involved building a dam at the Lendi river to store over 6 trillion cubic metres of water before it joined the Manjira river, a tributary of the Godavari, the largest river of peninsular India. The project being executed by the Godavari Marathwada Irrigation Development Corporation Ltd was originally envisaged to be built at the cost of half a billion rupees. But in 2016, authorities further pushed the completion date to 2020 with a revised cost of Rs 14 billion. If the project is completed after 28 years of delay, it will join 16 other such irrigation projects in Maharashtra that have been hanging fire for over two decades. Many of these projects are in the severe drought-hit regions of Vidarbha and Marathwada in the state.

Budget 2018 : This shouldn’t have been much of a bother for Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who gets set to present his government’s last full-fledged Budget on February 1, 2018. But the fact that such delayed projects dot Maharashtra would certainly rankle the finance minister. Information sourced from his ministry shows that these multi-decade delays in completing minor and major irrigation projects across Maharashtra have cost the government a lot of money over the years. Out of a total of 29 irrigation projects under construction in the state, 16 are delayed with massive time lags. These projects that should have been completed at an estimated cost of Rs 9 billion will now end up costing more than Rs 50 billion. And the fate of those expected to be commissioned in 2018 still remains unclear.

Maharashtra might be India’s richest state, yet every year the state faces debilitating droughts leading to destruction of farm livelihoods and loss of life due to the paucity of drinking water. In 2013, the state faced its worst drought ever. If that wasn’t enough, in 2015 and 2016 severe droughts again hit the state. Reports suggest that the state’s farmers sought insurance to the tune of Rs 41 billion for crop losses due to drought in 2016. That year, the agriculture sector in the state contracted by 4.6 per cent.

While Jaitley might be inclined to announce new irrigation projects for Maharashtra, the Narendra Modi administration might do well to ensure that irrigation projects scheduled to be completed this year and the ones hanging fire for more than two decades see the light of the day first, without suffering the same fate as other projects like the Lendi irrigation project. Finance ministry data show that at least six irrigation projects in the drought-hit state are scheduled to be commissioned in 2018. All these projects were conceived before 1997. Although conceived at a cost of Rs 7 billion, their revised completion cost 20 years later exceeds Rs 27 billion.

Budget 2018: Govt to extend Modi's flagship PMJDY scheme, double overdraft

The financial inclusion scheme could also reportedly see the overdraft amount sanctioned under it double as the government looks to use it to promote entrepreneurship by providing bank loans

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flagship programme, the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), which completed three years in August last year and was credited by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for unleashing the "JAM" -- Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, Mobile -- revolution, is set to receive an extension in Budget 2018, which is just days away. The financial inclusion scheme could also reportedly see the overdraft amount sanctioned under it double as the government looks to use it to promote entrepreneurship by providing bank loans.

A senior government official told financial daily The Economic Times that during Budget 2018, an announcement on PMJDY being extended is expected. The unnamed official added that an increase in the overdraft amount under the scheme could also be on the cards. Stating that the government was looking to "build upon" the scheme, the official told the financial daily that it was also going to "bundle other financial products" under PMJDY, which will see its second phase end in August.

Currently, under PMJDY, one account, preferably belonging to a woman, in every household can avail of an overdraft of Rs 5,000 once the account has been satisfactorily operated for six months. According to the financial daily, this amount could be doubled to Rs 10,000 in order to allow access to easy emergency funds. The above-mentioned government official told the financial daily that such a move was "being discussed" and the overdraft amount could be "doubled" for those accounts that are "receiving direct benefit transfer through one or more schemes".

Originally envisioned for providing financial inclusion to all Indian citizens by ensuring that at least one person from every household possesses a bank account, the PMJDY scheme is also being seen by the government as a vehicle for promoting entrepreneurship. According to the financial daily, the government plans to push lenders to provide entrepreneurship a boost using the good operative accounts.

Modi's flagship financial inclusion scheme:

The stated objective of the ambitious scheme is to bring society's excluded sections under the formal financial system's umbrella.

As of October last year, close to 300 million (30 crore) people had opened accounts under the scheme, which was launched in 2014 by PM Modi. At present, according to the latest data available on the PMJDY site, 309.7 million (30.97 crore) beneficiaries have banked under the scheme, the beneficiary accounts hold a balance of Rs 736.90 billion (73,689.72 crore), and 126,000 (1.26 lakh) Bank Mitras are delivering branch-less banking services in sub-service areas.

Budget 2018: Tax managers want Arun Jaitley to align cycle to calendar year

Jurisdiction-free e-assessments, gradual reduction in personal tax rates in line with changes in corporation tax and enhanced tax breaks for education of kids are among other key demands

A Deloitte survey of pre-Budget expectations of managers on personal income tax shows that most give a thumbs-up to aligning the tax year with the calendar year. Jurisdiction-free e-assessment of tax returns, a gradual reduction in personal tax rates in line with changes to the corporation tax structure and enhanced tax breaks for education of kids are among other key Budget 2018 demands from Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Indian managers are keen to align the tax year (April-March) with the calendar year (January-December), despite chances of initial hardships. In a survey of around 700-odd managers, a majority of respondents (84 per cent) want the Indian tax year to be changed from the financial year to the calendar year. A little over half (52 per cent) are in favour of bringing agricultural income under the tax ambit. Interestingly, one-third of the respondents (33 per cent) did not agree to tax on agriculture income.

Close to two-thirds (64 per cent) of the respondents gave an equivocal thumbs-up to the concept of jurisdiction-free e-assessment. E-assessments are seen as part of the tax department's endeavour to expedite and simplify assessment proceedings, reduce the taxpayer's inconvenience and stamp out corruption. However, 20 per cent of the respondents believe that this move would not be beneficial. The remaining 16 per cent are not sure if this move would be of any help.

In line with the gradual reduction of corporation tax rates for domestic companies from 30 per cent to 25 per cent, most respondents are in favour of a similar reduction in the tax rates for individuals from 30 per cent to 25 per cent. A majority of the survey respondents (86 per cent) are of the view that a similar reduction of tax rate should be given to individual taxpayers. The survey noted that any reduction in the tax rate would place more money in the hands of end consumers, resulting in a boost for domestic demand.

Salaried employees are keen to see an increase in the limit for deduction under Section 80C towards certain payments and investments, currently capped at Rs 150,000. A majority of the respondents (80 per cent) desire the limit under Section 80C to be increased to Rs 250,000. The remaining 20 per cent want the ceiling raised to Rs 200,000. "Such benefits would be two-fold, wherein individual taxpayers would be willing to save more and, in turn, will benefit from a lower tax outgo," the survey noted.

There is a strong demand (79 per cent) among respondents for re-introduction of the tax-saving infrastructure bonds. Out of these, 58 per cent of the respondents indicated that the deduction should be reintroduced with a limit of Rs 50,000, while 21 per cent of respondents were of the view that the deduction be reintroduced with a limit of Rs 35,000.

Union Budget 2018 to bring income tax cheer? Here's why this EY survey thinks so

About 59% of the respondents were of the view that multiple outdated deductions would be replaced with a standard deduction in order to reduce the tax burden of employees

The government is likely to tweak income tax slabs and rates in Budget 2018-19 to bring down the burden on individuals, while there is unlikely to be any change in the current taxation of dividends, according to a survey by EY.

In a pre-Budget survey by tax consultant EY, a wide majority of 69 per cent of the respondents felt that the threshold limits for taxation would increase further in order to boost disposable income in the hands of the people.

About 59 per cent of the respondents were of the view that multiple outdated deductions would be replaced with a standard deduction in order to reduce the tax burden of employees.

The survey includes the views of 150 CFOs, tax heads, and senior finance professionals and was conducted in January.

About 48 per cent of the respondents said they expect the finance minister to lower corporate tax rate to 25 per cent but the surcharge would continue.

Most of the respondents (65 per cent) do not anticipate a change in the current taxation of dividends at this stage. About 24 per cent of the respondents feel that with a view to lowering the overall burden on the corporate sector, the government may lower the rate to 10 per cent.

"The pre-Budget 2018 EY Survey with business decision makers reveals a consensus amongst India Inc for stability and consistency in tax policies and a moderate tax structure. There seems to be little expectation of any major direct tax overhaul after the transformative introduction of GST earlier in the year," EY India National Tax Leader Sudhir Kapadia said.

Budget 2018: Raise funds for education, tax relief under GST, says Assocham

Actual public expenditure over the years even after the additional revenue garnered through levies of education cess surcharges for education, however, was only around four percent

With the Union Budget to be presented in ten days, the Assocham has recommended enhancing the outlay for the education sector, along with greater tax relief for higher education under the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

"The Union Budget 2018 would be the first after imposition of GST. A time has come for correcting the distortions which were earlier brought in by repeated amendments in the service tax for education sector. The last amendment brought in March 2017, denying tax relief for listed services for higher educational institutions; needs to be immediately withdrawn and end the untenable discrimination against higher education institutions, '' Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said in a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

The chamber said no clarification was given for the sudden disruption in the age-old parity of higher educational institutions, universities, research institutions all with higher secondary schools in the matter of limited tax exemption made available to primary school upward to higher secondary level.

"Educational institutions constitute a composite tree-root, stem, branch, - from primary schools to colleges, professional institutes, universities, research institutions. Together they are all inter-dependant and integrally inter-related for the national education system as a whole. Any distinction to separate the higher education institutions from the building blocks in the pyramid-primarily, middle, secondary and higher secondary schools-would be invidious and untenable," the letter read.

The chamber also highlighted that most higher education institutions and numerous private universities which have come up after legislative modifications in the Centre and States in the last decade are facing serious financial problems with their huge capital requirements and non availability of concessional finance.

Higher educational institutions have neither the capacity to absorb the new tax burden nor the power to pass on the same by increase in fees to students with external state regulation and risk of agitation in the campus.

"From the Kothari Commission to the recent Subramanian Committee (set up after the 2016 National Policy of Education) the expert recommendation and national view had been for a minimum public outlay on education of six percent of GDP," said Assocham in its letter.

Actual public expenditure over the years even after the additional revenue garnered through levies of education cess surcharges for education, however, was only around four percent. Therefore, the chamber called for higher public expenditure on education at all levels - from schools to universities, and advanced research institutions.

Budget 2018: Reeling under dwindling exports, AEPC seeks several relief

The apparel export body has made around 8-10 demands ahead of the Budget 2018

Reeling from a continued fall in export growth and marginal refunds on the goods and services tax (GST), the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has written to the government, seeking 12-15 types of relief. They want the duty drawback and the refund of state levies (ROSL) to be restored to pre-GST levels, and also exemptions from the new indirect tax for exporters.

Growth of apparel exports has clocked a negative 39 per cent, 11 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively, in October, November and December last year, according to H K L Magu, chairman, AEPC.

Now, in the run-up to the Union Budget 2018, the export body has sought incentives from the government, to boost exports. It wants the duty drawback on cotton apparels to be restored to pre-GST rates of 7.5 per cent and the ROSL of 3.5 per cent. They also want to be exempted from 18 per cent GST for air freight.

After the GST roll-out last year, the duty drawback fell to 2 per cent; ROSL to 1.5 per cent on cotton apparels, and 2.5 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively, on different man-made apparels.

Till September, when the previous rates were applicable, apparel exports grew in double-digits. However, October onwards, exports began taking a hit.

“We have been asking the government to support apparel exporters to survive. There have been blockages of funds between July and December; hardly anybody got GST refunds. Dollar weakened to be valued at Rs 63. We have become uncompetitive; Bangladesh has begun cashing in on this,” said Magu.

He added, “The government did take notice of the impact. Hence, in the mid-term review, the merchandise export incentive scheme was increased from 2 per cent to 4 per cent. However, more steps are needed to revive the industry.

Union Budget 2018: Unfair to judge me on demonetisation and GST only, says Narendra Modi

Countering the allegation that his government had reneged on the promise of making 10 million jobs a year, high Minister Narendra Modi quoted a current take a look at showing seven million jobs had been created inside the formal zone by myself inside the cutting-edge economic 12 months.

Union Budget 2018 : “This statistics of 7 million jobs is not like building castles within the air. it has been calculated with the aid of an independent organization on the basis of EPFO (personnel’ Provident Fund business enterprise) figures,” Modi said in a tv interview, days before leaving for Davos to wait the arena monetary discussion board meet.
One have to additionally remember the opportunities that had been being created in the informal sector, he introduced.

“As many as one hundred million people have taken loans from the high Minister Mudra Yojana with none financial institution guarantee. Loans to the tune of Rs 4 trillion have been distributed. New entrepreneurs are being created. won’t you matter these figures as activity creation?” he asked.

“you could counter these figures at the political traces, however these numbers aren't primarily based on simply wishful questioning,” he said. “we're at the proper tune so far as activity introduction is worried.”

In step with a study authored by SBI group leader financial guide Soumya Kanti Ghosh and IIM Bangalore professor Pulak Ghosh, 590,000 jobs have been generated each month till November within the contemporary monetary 12 months. because of this seven million jobs will be created within the formal zone in 2017-18 if one expands the fashion on a seasoned-rata foundation.

The study, titled “in the direction of a Payroll Reporting in India”, calculated the variety of jobs in corporations from the membership of the EPFO, the personnel’ nation insurance organisation, the overall Provident Fund, and the countrywide Pension gadget (NPS). so far as information from the EPFO is worried, the observe estimated that three.68 million jobs have been generated till November of FY18, which would imply 5.five million within the complete 12 months. this will be higher than the four.5 million created the previous economic year, a length which saw disruption from demonetisation.

when requested as to what type of finances, the closing complete one of the Narendra Modi government, it will be, the top minister said the mantra of his authorities become improvement. “whether or not this is the final finances or the primary budget, whether there are elections or no longer, the mantra of Modi is best improvement, improvement and improvement. the mantra of the Bharatiya Janata birthday celebration is best improvement. Sabka sath, sabka vikas (Cooperation from all, development for all).”

The PM spoke at length about the want for simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls. He stated there has been a want for multiplied debate on the difficulty. “This cannot be the time table of 1 political birthday party or person. It isn’t Modi’s or BJP’s agenda only. there is a need for discussion in this,” he stated.

Modi stated the united states of america ultimate inside the perennial election mode no longer simplest affected governance, however also hurt the federal structure of the united states of america.

speaking about how elections lead to battle of phrases among political rivals, Modi likened elections to the pageant of Holi. Holi, he said, turned into celebrated on a specific day in which it changed into proper to throw hues or dust on people. “further, the Lok Sabha and assembly elections ought to take vicinity at a fixed time, for example in the second week of February.”