Friday, 29 February 12:52 PM - Budget Speech ends.  » Send to friends 12:51 PM - Central sales tax cut to 2% from 3%. FM's Direct Tax (personal income tax) proposals to be revenue neutral. Indirect tax proposals to result in loss of Rs 5,000 crore.  » Send to friends 12:49 PM - Banking cash transaction tax withdrawn from April 1, 2009.  » Send to friends 12:49 PM - Commodities Transaction Tax to be introduced on the lines of Securities Transaction Tax.  » Send to friends 12:45 PM - Five year tax holiday for setting up hospitals in tier II and tier III regions for providing healthcare in rural areas from April 1, 2008.  » Send to friends 12:45 PM - Five year tax holiday for promoting cultural tourism.  » Send to friends 12:44 PM - Fresh facilities, encouragement to sports and guest houses exempted from Fringe Benefit Tax.  » Send to friends 12:43 PM - COMMODITIES TRANSACTION TAX IMPOSED AT THE SAME RATE AT THE STT  » Send to friends 12:43 PM - For women, the income tax limit goes up from Rs 1.45 lakh to Rs 1.80 lakh. In case of senior women citizens, it increases from Rs 1.95 lakh to Rs 2.25 lakh.  » Send to friends 12:43 PM - Securities Transaction Tax is a deductible expenditure from now on  » Send to friends 12:42 PM - Short term capital gains tax increased to 15%  » Send to friends 12:42 PM - New tax slabs will be: 10 per cent for Rs 1,50,000 to Rs 3,00,000, 20 per cent for Rs 3,00,000 to Rs 5,00,000 and 30 per cent above Rs 5,00,000.  » Send to friends 12:38 PM - Asset management service under mutual funds, services by stock exchanges to be brought under Services Tax net.  » Send to friends 12:38 PM - Threshold for small service providers raised from Rs. eight lakh to Rs 10 lakh.  » Send to friends 12:38 PM - Changes in IT slab. Threshold of exemption for all Income Tax assesses raised from from 1,10,000 to 1,50,000.  » Send to friends 12:37 PM - TAX EXEMPTION FOR SENIOR CITIZENS: RS 225000  » Send to friends 12:37 PM - NO CHANGE IN CORPORATE INCOME TAX, NO CHANGE IN SURCHARGE  » Send to friends 12:37 PM - TAX EXEMPTION FOR WOMEN: RS 180000  » Send to friends 12:36 PM - PERSONAL TAXATION: EXEMPTION LIMIT INCREASED TO 1,50,000 FROM RS 1,10,000.. everyone gets a relief of Rs 4000!  » Send to friends 12:35 PM - PERSONAL TAXATION: SLABS CHANGED  » Send to friends 12:35 PM - General Centvat on all goods to be reduced from 16 per cent to 14 per cent. Excise duty reduced from 16 per cent to eight per cent on all pharmaceutical goods manufacture.  » Send to friends 12:35 PM - Excise duty on small cars reduced to 12 per cent from 16 per cent and hybrid cars to 14 per cent.  » Send to friends 12:34 PM - Duty on crude and unrefined sulphur reduced from five to 2 per cent to help raise domestic fertiliser production.  » Send to friends 12:33 PM - CIGARETTES TO BE TAXED MORE. Duty on non filter cigarettes to be raised.  » Send to friends 12:32 PM - Excise duty on two-wheelers cut from 16% to 12%  » Send to friends 12:32 PM - No change in peak rate of customs duty for non agriculture imports.  » Send to friends 12:32 PM - Tax to GDP ratio increased from 9.2 per cent in 2004-05 to 12.5 per cent 2007-08.  » Send to friends 12:31 PM - Duty withdrawn on naptha for production of polymers.  » Send to friends 12:31 PM - No excuse duty on wireless data cards, composting machines. Excise duty reduced from 16 to 8 per cent on water purification items.  » Send to friends 12:31 PM - Special Countervailing Duty on power imports.  » Send to friends 12:31 PM - Excise duty on small cars cut.. might become cheaper  » Send to friends 12:30 PM - Customs duty on specified life saving drugs reduced from ten per cent to five per cent.  » Send to friends 12:30 PM - Customs duty on specified sports goods machinery down from 7.5 per cent to five per cent.  » Send to friends 12:29 PM - EXCISE DUTIES: GENERAL CENVAT RATE CUT ON ALL GOODS FROM 16% TO 14%. This is being done to boost the manufacturing segment  » Send to friends 12:29 PM - TAX: Customs duty exemption on Naphtha withdrawn, execpt for that used for making fertilizers  » Send to friends 12:29 PM - TAX: helicopter similators, customs duty cut  » Send to friends 12:28 PM - TAX: SOME SPORTS GOODS raw materials exempt from duty  » Send to friends 12:28 PM - TAX: Convergence products, duty cut from 10% to 5%  » Send to friends 12:27 PM - TAX: no duty on set-top boxes  » Send to friends 12:27 PM - HOWEVER, CUSTOMS DUTIES TO BE REDUCED ON SOME POWER PROJECTS, STEEL MELTING SCRAP, ON SOME LIFE-SAVING DRUGS.  » Send to friends 12:26 PM - CUSTOMS DUTY: NO CHANGE IN PEAK RATE OF CUSTOMS DUTY  » Send to friends 12:24 PM - TAXATION: promises tax payer friendly regime.  » Send to friends 12:24 PM - Fiscal deficit pegged at 3.1 per cent and revenue deficit at 1.4 per cent.  » Send to friends 12:22 PM - Rs 624 crore allocated for Commonwealth Games.  » Send to friends 12:20 PM - DEFENCE: Allocation for defence to be increased by 10 per cent from Rs 96,000 crore to Rs 1,05,600 crore.  » Send to friends 12:19 PM - PROTECTING THE TIGER: One time grant of Rs 50 crore for the National Tiger Fund Authority, to deploy a special tiger protection force.  » Send to friends 12:18 PM - Three schemes to be introduced for providing social security to unorganised sector workers.  » Send to friends 12:18 PM - DEFENCE: Allocation to be increased by 10%  » Send to friends 12:18 PM - 6th Pay Commission to table report by March 31 2008.  » Send to friends 12:17 PM - Rs 750 crore for upgradation of 300 ITIs in 25 districts.  » Send to friends 12:16 PM - Rs 32,676 crore as subsidy to Public Distribution System.  » Send to friends 12:16 PM - PDS -- Public Distribution System -- through smart cards in Haryana and Chandigarh to start on pilot basis.  » Send to friends 12:14 PM - Chidambaram said that according to estimates, 3 crore marginal and small farmers would benefit from the overnment's amnesty. Under the one-time settlement scheme that will benefit another one crore farmers, the government will give a rebate of 25 per cent on payment of outstanding loans. The agricultural credit of scheduled banks is estimated at Rs 2,40,000 crore in the current fiscal and it would go up to Rs 2,80,000 crore in 2008-09.  » Send to friends 12:11 PM - PAN requirement to be extended to all transactions in capital market subject to a threshold.  » Send to friends 12:10 PM - So where will the money come from? Is he going to tax us more? Wait with bated breath as he is about to roll out his tax proposals in a moment.  » Send to friends 12:10 PM - Presenting his fifth Budget and the last one before the general elections, Chidambaram announced waiver of Rs 50,000 crore worth of loans to small and marginal farmers and a settlement scheme for other farmers that would cost the exchequer another Rs 10,000 crore.  » Send to friends 12:10 PM - Finance Minister P Chidambaram today announced a Rs 60,000-crore relief package for farmers, including complete waiver of loans given to small and marginal farmers.  » Send to friends 12:09 PM - PAN NEEDED FOR ALL MARKET TRANSACTIONS.  » Send to friends 12:09 PM - Risk Capital Fund to be set up in SIDBI, the Small Industrial Development Bank of India.  » Send to friends 12:08 PM - SMEs TO BENEFIT: Micro, small and medium enterprises to continue to get special attention, says the finance minister.  » Send to friends 12:08 PM - GOOD NEWS FOR TEXTILES: Allocation for Textile Upgradation Fund to be more than doubled.  » Send to friends 12:07 PM - 75 lakh people to be covered by health insurance schemes, says FM.  » Send to friends 12:06 PM - OIL EXPLORATION: Foreign investment of $3.5 billion to $8 billion expected for exploration and development of new oil blocks.  » Send to friends 12:06 PM - MORE ON FARMERS' LOAN WAIVER: The loan waiver scheme will benefit 3 crore (30 MILLION) small and medium farmers and cover loans totalling Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion). One crore (10 million) other farmers will benefit to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) in the waiver.  » Send to friends 12:05 PM - National Fund for Transmission and Distribution Reforms to be launched.  » Send to friends 12:05 PM - Rs 800 crore for accelerated power reforms programme.  » Send to friends 12:04 PM - More reforms needed in coal and electricity sectors to ensure double digit growth in manufacturing sector.  » Send to friends 11:59 AM - The corpus of rural infrastructure development fund to be raised to Rs 14,000 crore, the FM says.  » Send to friends 11:59 AM - Loan waiver scheme to involve loans liability of Rs 60,000 crore and to benefit four crore farmers.  » Send to friends 11:59 AM - By loan waiver scheme, the country is discharging a deep debt and sense of gratitude to farmers, says Chidambaram.  » Send to friends 11:58 AM - The government proposed to waive agricultural loans given by scheduled commercial banks, regional rural banks and cooperative credit institutions to farmers up to March 31, 2007 and due for December 31.  » Send to friends 11:58 AM - Stock market benchmark Sensex today dropped by over 200 points, in the middle of Finance Minister P Chidambaram announcing loan waivers worth Rs 60,000 crore for farmers in his budget speech.  » Send to friends 11:57 AM - Market falls by 222.91 points to 17601.57 amid loan waiver announcement in budget.  » Send to friends 11:57 AM - Implementation of debt waiver and debt relief for farmers will be completed by June 30 this year, the FM announced.  » Send to friends 11:55 AM - There will, says FM, a one-time settlement of loans for other farmers.  » Send to friends 11:55 AM - Agriculture loans restructured and rescheduled by banks from 2004-06 and other loans normally rescheduled under RBI guidelines will also be eligible under the waiver scheme.  » Send to friends 11:54 AM - Meanwhile, statistics show that inflation has risen to 4.89 per cent for the week ended February 16, against 4.35 per cent in the previous week.  » Send to friends 11:54 AM - Chidambaram begins again.. amidst more noise and shouts and slogans..  » Send to friends 11:52 AM - Chidambaram's budget is certainly addressing a vote bank: farmers. If this is an indication of things to come, it might turn out to be a very very populist budget.  » Send to friends 11:51 AM - Chidambaram begins again.. amidst more noise and shouts and slogans..  » Send to friends 11:51 AM - MORE NOISE IN LOK SABHA.. EVERYONE IS SHOUTING AT THE SAME TIME... CHIDAMBARAM CAN ONLY LOOK ON HELPLESSLESSLY..  » Send to friends 11:49 AM - Complete waiver of loans for marginal farmers owning land up to one hectare and small farmers owning land up to 1 and 2 hectares.  » Send to friends 11:49 AM - Agricultural loans given by scheduled commercial banks, regional rural banks and cooperative credit institutions up to March 31, 2007 and due for December 31 that year will be covered under the waiver scheme to address the problem of indebtedness.  » Send to friends 11:49 AM - Nobody is listening to the Speaker. The members seem very agitated over the loan-waiver announcement by the FM. Meanwhile, Chidambaram can only keep repeating "Sir...," "Sir..."  » Send to friends 11:48 AM - Members shouting. "GO TO YOUR SEAT," shouts Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.  » Send to friends 11:46 AM - A scheme of debt waiver and relief for small and marginal farmers announced.  » Send to friends 11:46 AM - National Plant Protection Training Institute at Hyderabad to be made autonomous body and Rs.29 crore will be allocated to it.  » Send to friends 11:46 AM - House erupts in uproar. Opposition and govt MPs are shouting at the top of their voices. Speech held up for now.  » Send to friends 11:45 AM - Rs 644 crore for National Agriculture Insurance Scheme, which will be continued pending evolving an alternative crop insurance scheme.  » Send to friends 11:45 AM - COMPLETE WAIVER OF ALL LOANS FOR SMALL AND MARGINAL FARMERS.  » Send to friends 11:45 AM - Rs 75 crore to be given to Agriculture Ministry for providing mobile soil testing laboratories in 250 districts.  » Send to friends 11:45 AM - National Horticulture Mission to be given Rs 1,100 crore in 2008-09 with special focus on coconut cultivation.  » Send to friends 11:45 AM - Rs 20,000 crore for irrigation projects under AIPB, showing an increase of Rs 9,000 crore over last year.  » Send to friends 11:45 AM - ALL AGRI LOANS DISBURSED BY COMMERCIAL BANKS TO BE WAIVED  » Send to friends 11:43 AM - FARMERS' DEBT TO BE WAIVED!  » Send to friends 11:42 AM - Manufacturing, construction pull down Q3 GDP to 8.4 per cent A downturn in manufacturing and construction sectors pulled down economic growth rate in the third quarter of this fiscal to 8.4 per cent from 9.1 per cent a year ago. While the growth rate of the manufacturing sector came down to 9.3 per cent during October-December 2007 from 11.3 per cent in the corresponding period previous year, the construction sector growth rate dipped to 8.4 per cent from 10.8 per cent during the same period. According to quarterly estimates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) released by the government today, October-December quarter was the worst in 2007-08 in terms of economic growth (8.4 per cent), which in turn can make come true the fears expressed in the Economic Survey that GDP growth for the full fiscal would fall below 9 per cent. The Economic Survey, tabled by Finance Minister P Chidambaram in Parliament yesterday, had said the economy during 2007-08 is expected to grow by 8.7 per cent. The GDP growth rate during nine month period (April-December 2007) worked out to be 8.9 per cent down from 9.6 per cent during the corresponding period last year. The agriculture and allied sector growth rate during Q3 declined to 3.2 per cent from 3.4 per cent in the corresponding quarter in the last fiscal.  » Send to friends 11:38 AM - A target of Rs 2.80 lakh crore for agriculture credit set for the coming year.  » Send to friends 11:37 AM - Rs 500 crore for corpus fund to subsidise all women Self Helf Groups for LIC cover for permanent disability.  » Send to friends 11:36 AM - Rs 7,200 crore to be allocated to the Ministry of Women and Child Development, marking an increase of 24 per cent.  » Send to friends 11:36 AM - Meanwhile, the prices of some commodities like urad dal, gram dal and sooji have declined while maida edged up in the wholesale foodgrains market. Urad dal moved back to Rs 3,750 from Rs 3,850. Gram dal moved down by Rs 150 per quintal to Rs 3,100 from previous rate of Rs 3,250. Sooji edged down by Rs 25 to Rs 1,500 from against previous rate of Rs 1,525.  » Send to friends 11:35 AM - 288 public sector bank branches to be opened in districts having minority community concentration.  » Send to friends 11:34 AM - Agriculture growth rate at 2.6%. Agri credit too has doubled. More funds to be allocated for agriculture credit/loans.  » Send to friends 11:34 AM - Rs 540 crore for multi-sectoral development plan for minority concentration districts.  » Send to friends 11:30 AM - Allocation for several schemes in North East raised from Rs 14,365 crore to Rs 16,400 crore.  » Send to friends 11:30 AM - Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and minority students to continue to get special attention.  » Send to friends 11:30 AM - Rs 500 crore for identifying urgent needs of development programmes of border areas like Arunachal Pradesh.  » Send to friends 11:29 AM - Allocation for Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Mission to be increased to Rs 7,300 crore. Rs 200 crore for potable water in schools. Rs 300 crore to be set aside for desalination plant in Chennai for drinking water.  » Send to friends 11:28 AM - Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission to get Rs 6,865 crore this year against Rs 5,482 crore past year.  » Send to friends 11:28 AM - NREGA -- the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme -- to be rolled out in all the 596 rural districts in the country in 2008-09.  » Send to friends 11:27 AM - Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research to be set up at Bhopal and Thiruvananthapuram.  » Send to friends 11:27 AM - The speech goes on... Rs 85 crore sanctioned for scholarships to students pursuing science education, says the finance minister.  » Send to friends 11:27 AM - Some opposition members make noise to disrupt the speech, but the trouble passes soon.  » Send to friends 11:25 AM - Rs 992 crore for national AIDS programme.  » Send to friends 11:25 AM - A national programme for the elderly to be started at a cost of Rs 400 crore.  » Send to friends 11:25 AM - Allocation for ICDS -- Integrated Child Development Schemes -- increased to Rs 6,300 crore.  » Send to friends 11:25 AM - Rashtra Swasthya Beema Yojana to start from April 1, 2008 in Delhi and Haryana. Rs 30,000 for each family belonging to unorganised sector.  » Send to friends 11:24 AM - Allocation for NRHM -- the National Rural Health Mission -- increased to Rs 12,050 crore.  » Send to friends 11:24 AM - Health outlay has been raised by 15%.  » Send to friends 11:23 AM - The country's economic growth slowed down to 8.4 per cent for the quarter ended December 31, 2007, reflecting the apprehensions expressed in the Economic Survey that GDP expansion would fall below 9 per cent. The GDP growth during the year-ago quarter had stood at 9.1 per cent, while growth during the full year 2006-07 had touched 9.6 per cent. The Economic Survey, tabled in Parliament yesterday by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, had said economic expansion would cool to 8.7 per cent in 2007-08 due to sluggishness in consumer durables segment, infrastructure and industrial production. "The new challenge is to maintain growth at these levels, not to speak of raising it further to double digit levels," the Survey, a report card on the economy, had said.  » Send to friends 11:23 AM - Rs 100 crore to be given to the Information Technology ministry to set up national knowledge centres, the FM announced.  » Send to friends 11:23 AM - Allocation for NRHM increased to Rs 12,050 crore.  » Send to friends 11:19 AM - Three IITs to be set up in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan.  » Send to friends 11:19 AM - Schools of architecture and planning to be set up in Bhopal and Vijaywada.  » Send to friends 11:19 AM - Navodaya Vidyalayas to be opened in 20 districts with special focus on regions having SC/ST concentration. Allocation of Rs 130 crore for this purpose has been proposed by the finance minister.  » Send to friends 11:18 AM - 16 central universities to be opened in 2008-09.  » Send to friends 11:18 AM - Rs.750 crore more to be given for merit scholarship to students up to 10th and 12th class.  » Send to friends 11:18 AM - Mid day Meal scheme extended to upper primary level in 3479 schools.  » Send to friends 11:18 AM - FM plans to provide Rs 13,100 crore for the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan.  » Send to friends 11:17 AM - 410 additional Kasturba Gandhi Vidyalaya to be set up in backward blocks.  » Send to friends 11:16 AM - Gross budgetary support to be raised to Rs 2,43,386 crore, an increase of more than Rs 38,000 crore from last year.  » Send to friends 11:15 AM - Allocation for Bharat Nirman to be raised to Rs 31,280 crore.  » Send to friends 11:15 AM - Twenty per cent hike in education budget this year from Rs 28,674 crore to Rs 34,400 crore.  » Send to friends 11:14 AM - 6,000 high quality 'model schools' to be set up at a cost of Rs 600 crore. FM wants India to be a knowledge society.  » Send to friends 11:14 AM - Eleventh Plan started on a robust growth.  » Send to friends 11:13 AM - Agriculture credit doubled in the first two years of the government to reach Rs 2.4 lakh crore (Rs 2.4 trillion) by March 2008.  » Send to friends 11:13 AM - Primary education to be a major policy initiative in this year's Budget.  » Send to friends 11:12 AM - The FM plans to allot more for education, especially at the primary school level.  » Send to friends 11:11 AM - Agriculture credit has been doubled in the first two years of UPA rule, says the FM.  » Send to friends 11:09 AM - Rice production estimiated at 94.08 million tonnes, maize 16.78 mt, soyabean 9.45 mt and cotton 23.38 million bales.  » Send to friends 11:09 AM - Keeping inflation under check is one of the cornerstones of the Government's policy.  » Send to friends 11:09 AM - Services and manufacturing sectors expected to grow by 10.7 per cent and 9.4 per cent, says Chidambaram.  » Send to friends 11:07 AM - Govt will monitor foreign fund inflow, the FM said.  » Send to friends 11:06 AM - Govt will take steps to take steps to check rise of inflation.  » Send to friends 11:06 AM - We need to be vigilant and be proactive to change our policies, to counter this global problem.  » Send to friends 11:05 AM - Growth rate of agricultre extimated at 2.6 per cent during the current year.  » Send to friends 11:03 AM - Indian economy, like all developing economies, are beinghurt by these global upheavals in prices.  » Send to friends 11:03 AM - Agriculture growth was disappointing at 2.6% only, hurting the economy. The rise in global oil prices too has hurt us, say the FM.  » Send to friends 11:03 AM - This is the FM's 7th Budget.  » Send to friends 11:02 AM - India's growth will be at 8.7% according to the CSO, but FM optimistic India will attain 8.8% growth at least.  » Send to friends 11:01 AM - PC hails Manmohan Singh as he begins his speech. Indian economy has recorded an over 8% growth for 12 successive quarters, says the FM.  » Send to friends 11:01 AM - The FM has now begun his Speech.  » Send to friends 11:01 AM - Finance Minister P Chidambaram is about to present the Union Budget for 2008-09 in Parliament. However, it remains to be seen if the belligerent Opposition political parties allow him to read out his Budget Speech in peace. There is uproar in the Lok Sabha and the Speaker Somnath Chatterjee is finding it difficult to control the members of parliament.  » Send to friends 10:59 AM - The FM is in Lok Sabha and is about to start his Budget Speech. Hold on to your chairs!  » Send to friends 10:57 AM - 5. Boost to the farm sector seen The agriculture sector which forms the core of the economy will be the government's top priority. The government plans to achieve a growth of 4 per cent from the agriculture sector, up from the projected 2.6 per cent in 2007-08. Several measures are in the offing. Income generated from agricultural advances by state cooperative banks and district central cooperative banks is likely to be exempted from tax from 2008-09. The finance ministry may also promote measures to consolidate fragmented land holdings for boosting agricultural growth. Companies may be allowed to invest in contract farming to push the growth of agriculture.  » Send to friends 10:57 AM - 4. Senior citizens might rejoice In a welcome move, senior citizens who lease their property on rent may see some relief. The government has plans to exempt tax on rental income for senior citizens. Now, all age groups have a tax exemption of 30 per cent on rental income. The National Housing and Habitat Policy also supports a hike in tax exemption limit for rental income. The policy was cleared by the Cabinet in November. If the proposal is passed in the Budget, millions of unoccupied houses will be open for people seeking rental accommodation. There are also plans to hike the tax exemption limit from 30 per cent to 50 per cent for all rental earnings.  » Send to friends 10:56 AM - 3. TVs, music systems may cost less If you want to buy a high end music system, a plasma TV, a large refrigerator or an air-conditioner, it would perhaps do you well to wait till the Budget, for the finance minister is most likely to cut excise duty on some of these goods to boost consumer spending. The finance minister has hinted that he might unveil a fiscal package to boost consumption. This, coupled with lower interest rates and low taxes, will mean more money in your hands to spend and boost the manufacturing and consumer goods sectors. Also, Chidambaram has already requested PSU banks to make more loans available to people for white goods and houses. There is no clarity on whether the finance minister will make cars and two-wheelers more affordable. However, indications are that he would certainly infuse more funds into building better infrastructure for the country. So at least you can expect better roads to drive on. . . perhaps, better lighted ones too.  » Send to friends 10:56 AM - 2. Good news for home buyers, builders? The real estate sector is likely to see more action this year. This Budget may bring some good news for housing project developers. In a bid to curb the slowdown in the housing sector, Chidambaram may consider extending the sunset clause for housing projects, which is ending on March 31, 2008. Under Section 80 IB of the Income Tax Act 1961, profits from housing projects, with a minimum built-up area of 1,000 square feet in cities and 1,500 square feet at any other place, are exempted from tax. Chidambaram has already urged banks to reduce interest rates to make housing loans affordable for more people. The other major sunset clauses that are due to expire in the coming Budget are related to Software Technology Parks of India, Export Oriented Units and Industrial Parks. STPIs and EoUs enjoy tax holiday till March 31, 2009. If industrial parks are set up by March 2009, they could enjoy income tax exemption for 10 years.  » Send to friends 10:56 AM - Here are FIVE things that people feel the FM might do in this Budget: 1. Relief for income tax payers Income tax payers are likely to get 'major' relief in the Budget as the government prepares itself to please the middle class in the election year. Finance Minister P Chidambaram can give a marginal, but visible, relief to personal income tax assessees this year, as tax collections have improved substantially over the past three years. There is significant pressure on Chidambaram to reduce the effective rates and the income threshold limit for an income tax payer could be raised from Rs 1,10,000 to Rs 1,25,000 or Rs 1,30,000. Experts feel, this being the lection year Budget, Chidambarm will most likely be tempted to woo the voters by offering some tax sops. An announcement on the new income tax code is also expected in the Budget. The code is aimed at simplifying tax laws. And, yes, companies could see some modification in the Fringe Benefit Tax.  » Send to friends 10:44 AM - However, it remains to be seen if the belligerent Opposition political parties allow him to read out his Budget Speech in peace. More than the Opposition, the FM will be quite embarrassed with the aggression of the UPA's own allies, the Leftists, who have been blasting the UPA government's policies and saying that it might meet with the same fate as the erstwhile NDA government.  » Send to friends 10:41 AM - Finance Minister P Chidambaram will be presenting the Union Budget for 2008-09 in Parliament in a short while from now. He is on his way to the Lok Sabha.  » Send to friends 10:39 AM - Experts are saying that the stock market is reacting to pre-Budget speculation. They advise investors not to ruch into the market before the Budget announcements are made.  » Send to friends 10:39 AM - "The FM has been talking of writing a new tax code. This is the place to watch. He'll probably mention it in the Budget, and then go through a consultative process by putting it on the web and then invite comments, through open houses, and so on," he adds.  » Send to friends 10:34 AM - PricewaterhouseCoopers Executive Director Shyamal Mukherjee says, while speaking to Business Standard: "There is a view this is an election Budget, so there could be some tinkering with, say, the tax rate for individuals in the lowest slab -- I don't see the FM raising the income exemption limit as this will remove people from the list of taxpayers; he could lower rates. But the real changes will be made elsewhere."  » Send to friends 10:34 AM - The minimum income threshold limit for income tax payer could be raised from Rs 110,000 to Rs 125,000 or Rs 130,000, sources said. More income in the pockets of consumers will boost demand for consumer goods as well as household savings for investment.  » Send to friends 10:33 AM - Sectors like pharmaceuticals, textile machinery, food processing, paper and auto, including two-wheelers and tyres, are expected to get relief in excise duty, but like last year, Chidambaram could also prune excise duty exemptions to maintain revenue collections.  » Send to friends 10:32 AM - Reports say that the finance minister might announce a cut in excise duty rates across the board from 16 per cent to 14 per cent or sector-specific duty cuts in the Budget, while customs duty rates could be retained to please domestic industry.  » Send to friends 10:32 AM - Chidambaram is also expected to announce massive funds for social sector projects like National Rural Employment Guarantee, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, rural health and power sectors and big debt-relief package of around Rs 30,000 crore for farmers without disturbing the fiscal discipline.  » Send to friends 10:28 AM - Government servants are expecting an announcement on implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission. The FM could even announce a loan waiver for farmers.  » Send to friends 10:28 AM - The middle-class and the industry remember his 'dream' Budget of 1997-98 and expect a bonanza from Chidambaram in terms of relief in income tax and excise duties.  » Send to friends 10:24 AM - Since this will be the last full Budget of the United Progressive Alliance government, everyone -- individual taxpayers and corporate -- feels they might get some relief. But there are many who think that the finance minister will not really make them happy. The skills of Harvard-educated Chidambaram, who by profession is a lawyer, would be put to test when he rises to present in Lok Sabha the Budget for 2008-09, in a short while from now.  » Send to friends 10:24 AM - With 7 Assembly elections this year and the general polls in 2009, the Budget will offer the last opportunity to the Congress-led UPA government to win the confidence of voters. The government is also faced with a growing protests over farmers' suicides in some parts of the country. With tax collections rising, Chidambaram could announce tax benefits through cuts in personal and corporate income tax, excise duty relief and simplification of taxes and massive funds for farm, rural employment and other social projects.  » Send to friends 9:27 AM - Chidambaram, who will be presenting his 7th Budget in Parliament, will have a tough time balancing conflicting interests while presenting the Budget. The Economic Survey, tabled in the Parliament yesterday, has projected fiscal deficit to be further pruned to 3% in the next fiscal.  » Send to friends