Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Monday proposed a sharp increase in expenditure on infrastructure, a doubling of healthcare spending, and raising of the cap on foreign investment in insurance in her Budget for the next fiscal in a bid to pull the economy out of the trough.
It also imposed an Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) on the import of certain items (like apples, peas, lentils, alcohol, chemicals, silver and cotton) to finance agricultural infrastructure and other development expenditure.
But its impact on prices has been offset by an equivalent or more reduction in the import duty.
Interest on employee contributions to PF over Rs 2.5 lakhs per annum effective April 1, 2021, has now been made taxable.
Delivering her third straight Budget, Sitharaman allocated Rs 5.54 lakh crore for capital creation in the infrastructure sector.
This included Rs 1.18 lakh crore for the roads and highways sector and Rs 1.08 lakh crore for railways.
The allocation was 37 percent more than last year.
