India's 2007/08 Budget

[Confuzzled]

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram presented the federal budget for 2007/08 on Wednesday, raising spending on health, education and focusing on the flagging agricultural economy to ensure inclusive growth. Following are the highlights and key quotes from the budget speech.

The entire text can be seen at -

http://in.biz.yahoo.com/070228/137/6clcw.html


MAIN POINTS

* Total spending in 2007/08 seen at 6.81 trillion rupees ($154.6 billion); non-plan expenditure next year seen at 4.35 trillion rupees.

* Fiscal deficit for 2007/08 seen at 3.3 percent of GDP compared to 3.7 percent in previous year.
* Revenue deficit for 2007/08 seen at 1.5 percent of GDP compared to 2.0 percent in previous year.


TAXES

* Tax to GDP ratio seen at 11.4 percent in 2006/07; tax rates to be moderate and stable.

* Direct tax revenue to increase 30 billion rupees in next fiscal year.
* Exemptions cut for export-oriented enterprises such as software outsourcing firms, by asking them to pay mininum alternate tax (MAT) on income.


DUTY CUTS

* Peak customs duty for non-farm sector to be reduced to 10 percent.

* Second steel import duty cut to 10 percent
* Import duty on polyester yarn cut to 7.5 percent


NEW/INCREASED DUTY

* Import duty of 3 percent on private aircraft

* Export duty of 300 rupees per tonne on iron ore
* Excise duty on cigarettes raised by 5 percent


FARM SECTOR

* Government sets up panel to study the impact of forward trading in commodities.

* Farm credit for 2007/08 seen at 2.25 trillion rupees compared to 1.90 trillion in the previous year.
* Chidambaram says government is "concerned about the stagnation in the production and productivity of pulses" and plans to boost output.


RURAL AND SOCIAL SECTOR

* Spending on education raised by 34.2 percent to 323.5 billion rupees for 2007/08.

* Spending on healthcare and family welfare raised by 21.9 percent to 152.9 billion rupees for 2007/08.
* "Revenues were buoyant for the third year in succession.


INFRASTRUCTURE
* Spending on national highway programme increased to 106.67 billion rupees for next fiscal year from 99.45 billion in previous year.


GROWTH
* "Our human and development indices are low, not because of high growth but because growth is not high enough. Faster economic growth has given us once again the opportunity to unfurl the sails and catch the wind."

I HAVE ONLY TAKEN ABOUT THREE POINTS 4RM EACH SECTION.

THE REST OF THE BUDGET CAN BE SEEN AT

http://in.biz.yahoo.com/070228/137/6clcw.html