Union Budget 2021 / What are the major announcements made in the Budget today?

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents Union Budget 2021 with a focus on healthcare, inclusive development, farmers' welfare. This is the ninth Budget under the Narendra Modi government, including an interim one and a third by Sitharaman.

Sitharaman had in her first budget in 2019 replaced leather briefcase that had been for decades used for carrying budget documents with a traditional red cloth 'bahi-khata'. This time, it is a paperless Budget and soft copies are being provided to the Parliamentarians. Sitharaman is using a 'Made in India' tablet to read the Budget.

Here are the key highlights and takeaways from the Union Budget:

# Customs duty on certain auto parts, solar equipment raised: FM

# Rationalising customs duties on gold and silver, says FM.

# Exemption duty on steel scrap up to March 2022; customs duty on naphtha cut to 2.5 percent: FM

# Govt proposes to review over 400 old exemptions in indirect taxes; to begin extensive consultation from October 2021: FM

# Tax holiday for startups extended by 1 year; exemption on capital gains on investment in startups extended by 1 year: FM

# FM proposes tax exemption for aircraft leasing companies: FM

# Affordable housing deduction extended by one year to FY22. Tax exemption to notified rental housing projects: FM

Catch all the live updates on the Union Budget here.

For full coverage of Union Budget, click here

# States to get 41 percent share of taxes as per 15th Finance Commission recommendation; the government has accepted the recommendation: FM

# No change in indirect tax regime.

# Advance tax liability on dividend income shall arise only after payment of dividend: FM

# Serious tax offences of concealment of income of over Rs 50 lakh can be reopened after 10 years: FM

# The government to set-up a faceless dispute resolution mechanism for small taxpayers. The government proposes to reduce the time allowed to re-open tax investigation to 3 years vs 6 years now: FM

# No income tax filing for senior citizens above 75 years of age having only pension, interest income: FM

# The government is committed to bringing down fiscal deficit below 4.5 pc of GDP by 2025-26: FM

# The government to borrow Rs 80,000 crore in remaining two months to meet FY21 expenditure. The government to borrow about Rs 12 lakh cr in FY22; expenditure pegged at Rs 34.83 lakh crore, including Rs 5.54 lakh crore of capital spending.

# COVID-19 relief led to rising in expenditure to Rs 34.50 lakh crore in the current fiscal as against Rs 30.42 lakh crore budgeted a year back.

# The Finance Minister allocates Rs 3,726 crore for the forthcoming Census which will be the first digital census

# The government proposes a deep ocean mission with an outlay of more than Rs 4,000 crore over five years: FM

# FM says modalities worked out for national research foundation; earmarks Rs 50,000 crore over five years.

# Rs 1,500 crore earmarked for scheme to incentivise digital payments: FM

# Agri Infra Fund increased to Rs 40,000 crore, Micro Irrigation Corpus doubled to Rs 10,000 crore: FM

# National Language Translation Mission will be set up to further boost our regional languages: FM

# Green scheme to be expanded to 22 perishable vegetable products: FM

# Government announces multi-state co-operative for ease of doing business: FM

# I have provided Rs 700 crore for MSME sector, more than double of what it was: FM

# More than 15,000 schools will be strengthened under NEP 2020. 100 new Sainik Schools to be made. There are other 'umbrella' structures to be created for higher education. For further setting up of Higher Education in Ladakh under NEP 2020, I propose to set up a central university in place: FM

# The Finance Minister puts disinvestment receipts at Rs 1.75 lakh crore for fiscal year beginning April 1, 2021. Barring four strategic areas, PSUs in other sectors will be divested. Two PSBs and one general insurance company to be divested and legislations amendments to be introduced in this session, Sitharaman says.

# The government is committed to the welfare of farmers. The MSP regime has undergone a change to assure price that is at least 1.5 times the cost of production across all commodities: FM

# Migrant workers can claim ration under 'One Nation One Ration Card'. Today, 32 states ad UTs are under the scheme. It is benefitting over 69 core beneficiaries so far: FM

# Social security benefits to be extended to gig and platform workers for the first time: FM

#Fiscal deficit revised to 9.5 percent for FY21 of GDP and pegged at 6.8 percent for FY22

# Sitharaman announces a further infusion of Rs 20,000 crore for public sector banks

# FDI in insurance companies increased from 49 percent to 74 percent, subject to specific compliance: FM

# Ujjwala LPG Scheme to add 1 crore more beneficiaries, over and above 8 crore: FM

# Rs 2,217 crore for 42 urban centres with a million-plus population, to tackle burgeoning problem of air pollution: FM

# Highway infra work proposed include building 8,500-km of highways by March 2022 -- 3,500 km corridor in Tamil Nadu, 1,100 km in Kerala at an investment of Rs 65,000 crore, 675 km in West Bengal for Rs 95,000 crore and 1,300 km in Assam in the next three years: FM

# The pneumococcal vaccine, limited to only 5 states at present, to be rolled out across the country. It will avert more than 50,000 child deaths annually: FM

# Over 13,000 km length of roads at a cost of Rs 3.3 lakh crore has already been awarded under Rs 5.35 lakh crore Bharatmala project of which 3,800 kms have been constructed. We would be awarding another 8,500 kms and complete an additional 11,000 kms of National Highway Corridors by March 2022: FM

# A New Scheme will be launched at a cost of Rs 18,000 crore to support the augmentation of Public Bus Transport Services: FM

# Sitharaman announces Urban Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 with an outlay of Rs 1,41,678 crore over 5 years from 2021. It is focussed on complete fecal sludge management, wastewater treatment, source segregation, management of waste from urban construction, bioremediation of legacy dumpsites

# The Finance Minister proposes around Rs. 1,07,000 crore for capital expenditure of Indian Railways. Indian Railways have a National Rail Plan for 2030. The next lot of airports to be privatised in tier 2 and 3 towns and cities, says the FM.

# For 2021-22, FM proposes a sharp increase in Capital Expenditure and has provided Rs 5.54 lakh crore which is 34.5 percent more than the BE 2020-21

# We will also give Rs 2 lakh crore to states and autonomous bodies for their capital expenditure: FM

# New Centrally-sponsored Scheme PM Aatmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana to be launched with an outlay of Rs 64,180 crore over 6 years. It is to develop capacities of health care systems, develop institutions for detection & cure of new and emerging diseases: FM

# Jal Jeevan Mission will be launched across all urban local bodies. Rs 2.87 lakh crore outlay for the mission over 5 years: FM

# The budget for health and well being would be around Rs 2 lakh crore: Sitharaman

# The Budget 2021 proposals rest on six pillars: health and well-being, physical and financial capital and infrastructure, inclusive development for aspirational India, reinvigorating human capital, innovation and R&D, minimum government, maximum governance: Sitharaman

# To strengthen Nutritional content, delivery, outreach & outcome, we will merge the supplement Nutrition Programme & Poshan Abhiyan and will launch the Mission Poshan 2.0: Sitharaman

# Rs 35,400 crore allocated for COVID-19 vaccines, will provide more if required: Sitharaman

# Sitharaman announces voluntary vehicle scrapping policy. Vehicles to undergo fitness tests - 15 years for commercial vehicles and 20 years for passenger vehicles

# Government to set up 15 National Health Emergecy Centres: Sitharaman

# 'Aatmanirbharta' includes the vision of Nation First, doubling farmers' income, strong infrasructure, women's empowerment, healthy India, good governance, education for all, inclusive development: Sitharaman

# Sitharaman hails Team India's performance in the Test match series against Australia and says it inspired hope.

# The government is fully prepared to support and facilitate economic reset: Sitharaman

# Announcements made during the COVID-crisis were like 5 mini-budgets. "Aatmanirbhar Bharat' accelerated the rate of reforms: Sitharaman

# We couldn't have imagined the global slowdown during the last Budget: Sitharaman

# Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents Union Budget 2021.