Union minister Piyush Goyal presented the election year Interim Budget in parliament today and announced major relief for farmers and individual taxpayers. This was the last Interim Budget of the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the Lok Sabha elections due by May. With the Lok Sabha election just months away, the government kept the budget focussed on immediate relief such as easing income tax rules, favourable loan terms for small businesses, farm loan waiver and even direct cash transfers to small farmers. The government said it will send Rs 6,000 to small farmers directly into their bank accounts in a scheme that will be funded 100 per cent by the centre. The programme will cost Rs 75,000 crore. Piyush Goyal's turn to reveal the contents of the Union Budget briefcase in the crucial national election year came after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had to go on leave and fly to the US for treatment. Yesterday, the government said its estimate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for fiscal 2018 was 7.2 per cent, significantly higher than 6.7 per cent earlier.
In an interview with news agency ANI, Arun Jaitley hit out the opposition for "shedding crocodile tears" for farmers and said they opposition parties can top up the central scheme. He added that it not the responsibility of only the federal govt.
Here are the Budget highlights 2019; it was presented by Union Minister Piyush Goyal:
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