In his Budget speech, Mr Jaitley announced that wealth tax was being replaced by a 2 per cent surcharge on people with a taxable income of over Rs 1 crore.
The abolition of wealth tax will cost the government around Rs 1,000 crore, but the super-rich surcharge is expected to bring a staggering Rs 9,000 crore, Mr Jaitley said.
Mr Jaitley also proposed to cut corporate tax from 30 per cent to 25 per cent over next the next four years.
This is the Narendra Modi government's first full year budget since it took power in May. Mr Jaitley ended the speech with a chant from the Bhagavad Gita advising "all to be happy, free from illness and suffering."
A surcharge of 10 per cent was announced in 2013 on income exceeding a crore a year by then finance minister P Chidambaram. At the time, there were 42,800 people who fell in the category.
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