Budget 2016. Rs 70000 Cr Allocated For Seventh Pay Commission

Rs 70000 Cr Allocated For Seventh Pay Commission In Budget 2016

New Delhi: As much as Rs 70,000 crore has been provisioned in the Union Budget 2016-17 for implementation of Seventh Pay Commission for government employees, a top finance ministry official said.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley allocated Rs 70000 cr for Seventh pay commission in Budget 2016.

While the Budget did not provide an explicit overall provision number, the government had said the Seventh Pay Commission hike has been built in as interim allocation for different ministries and Budget numbers were credible.

Implementation of the pay commission report in toto is to cost the government Rs 1.02 lakh crore.

“We have provisioned for around 60-70 per cent of the total burden that was talked about,” the official said adding about Rs 70,000 crore has been provided in the Budget.

“We will wait to see the report of the Committee of Secretaries on the Seventh Pay Commission and decide if we need further allocation,” he said.

The Budget document states that “the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission due from January 1, 2016 is to be implemented during 2016-17 fiscal as also the revised One Rank One Pension (OROP)scheme for Defence services.”

The finance ministry has provisioned for this in the Demands for Grants for individual departments and ministries. It is built into and subsumed into those allocations.

“No one actually knows what will be the actual burden on the exchequer for the implementation of Pay commission recommendation. We have calculated internally and allocated to various ministries and departments accordingly,” the official said.

The government in January set up a high-powered panel headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha to process the recommendations of the seventh Pay Commission which will have bearing on the remuneration of 47 lakh central government employees and 52 lakh pensioners.

The Empowered Committee of Secretaries will function as a Screening Committee to process the recommendations with regard to all relevant factors of the Commission in an expeditious detailed and holistic fashion.

The official further said the finance ministry has fully provided for OROP scheme for defence personnel.

Faced with the burden of Pay Commission recommendations, there were concerns on whether the government would be able to stick to the fiscal deficit target of 3.9 per cent for 2016-17.

However, in Budget Finance Minister Arun Jaitley dispelled doubts and promised to adhere to the fiscal consolidation roadmap and stick to 3.9 per cent deficit target.

7th Pay Commission provision Budget 2016-17

Provision for 7th Pay Commission Pay hike made in the Budget 2016-17 in the form of budgeted allocation to various Ministries says Economic Affairs Secretary in the Ministry of Finance

With absence of an explicit overall provision for the 7th Pay Commission in Budget raising questions, government on Wednesday said the once-in-a-decade pay hike has been built in as interim allocation for different ministries and Budget numbers were credible.

The voluminous Budget documents state that “the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission due from January 1, 2016 is to be implemented during the financial year 2016-17 as also the revised One Rank One Pension scheme for Defence services.”

“The government has made provisions for the additional liabilities on these count,” it said, without giving the amount allocated for implementation.

Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said the number cannot be quantified and it has been built up in budget of various ministries.

“We cannot really quantify how much we require in 2016-17.

Because the Committee of Secretaries have to first give its recommendations, then govt will take a decision and then only we will know what is the requirement in FY17,” he said here.

Implementation of the pay commission report is to cost the government Rs 1.02 lakh crore.

“We have the Pay Commission recommendations with us, we have analysed the likely requirement and it has been built into the Budget of various ministries. Some suitable interim provisions have been made,” he said without elaborating.

“Hence the expenditure and revenue numbers are credible.”

Das said Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech stated that interim provisions have been made.

“And these provisions are there in the Demands for Grants for individual departments and ministries. It is built into and subsumed into those allocations.”

“The Budget reaffirmed the commitment of the government to continue with the process of fiscal consolidation as projected in the Medium Term Fiscal Policy Statement of 2015-16 despite a tough external environment,” the Budget documents said.

Accordingly, fiscal deficit has been projected at 3.5 per cent of GDP in 2016-17. “In accordance with the amended FRBM targets, the fiscal deficit of 3 per cent is projected to be achieved in 2017-18 onwards.”

“Keeping in view the challenge of reduction of fiscal deficit by 0.4 per cent of GDP in a difficult year in 2016-17 with substantial additional liabilities on pay revision etc, the government is quite optimistic of fully achieving the fiscal deficit target of 3 per cent or below by March 2018,” the documents said.

Source: New Indian Express

Annual Budget 2016 – Will the income tax slab increase

Annual Budget 2016 – Will the income tax slab increase? Or, will it not?

“It is important to keep in mind the expectations of Central Government employees, who accurately calculate and set aside more than their one month’s salary to pay income tax each year.”

The annual budget of 2016 is being presented today. Expectations are high that Modi Government will fulfill the requirements of the farmers, industrialists and Central Government employees.

There are conflicting rumours that the income tax slab is likely to be raised this year. Some say that it wouldn’t.

The Railway Budget was presented on February 25. The Annual Budget of 2016-17 will be presented at 12.00 PM today (February 29, 2016). This is the third general budget presented by the Modi Government’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

With the Government requiring more than Rs.1 lakh crore to implement the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, Arun Jaitley’s budget will reveal how the government intends to raise these funds, and for raising the capital required for the banks.

The minimum income tax slab for individuals is currently Rs.2.5 lakhs. With increasing prices, the salaried class is eagerly expecting an increase in the tax slabs. Therefore, announcements regarding this are expected in the Budget. With assembly elections scheduled to be held in five states in the near future, the chances of raising the tax slabs are bright.

With the subsidy burden increasing on the Government, the subsidies for those with annual income above a certain level, will very likely be cancelled. LPG subsidy is very likely to be stopped. And, the number of subsidized cylinders is also likely to be reduced.

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important points in Budget 2016-17

Highlights of General Budget 2016

Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley spoke on the Key Reform Measures in his Budget speech 2016-17

1. The Government is firm on its course towards fiscal consolidation without compromising on its development agenda. 3.5% fiscal deficit is targeted for FY 2017.

2. Total allocation for Agriculture, Farmers’ welfare and Irrigation set at Rs. 47,912 cr, which is nearly twice the allocation of the previous year.

3. New Health Protection scheme will provide health cover up to Rs. 1 lakh per family and additional Rs. 30,000 for senior citizens.

4. Free LPG connections will be provided in the name of woman member of a family to 1.5 cr BPL households in 2016-17 and to continue for two more years to cover 5 cr households in total.

5. Massive increase in public spending on infrastructure to Rs. 2.21 lakh cr, an increase of 22.5% over the previous year.

6. Higher Education Financing Authority set up, with an initial capital base of Rs. 1,000 cr to promote higher education. In addition, 10 public and 10 private institutions to emerge as world-class Teaching and Research Institutions.

7. Promoting a tax-friendly regime and minimizing hassles due to litigation through a New Dispute Resolution Scheme with low or zero penalties. Ongoing tax cases can be settled with ease.

8. Increased relief for middle-class tax-payers by raising the ceiling of tax rebate under Section 87A to Rs. 5,000 for individuals with income less than Rs. 5 lakhs and by raising the limit of deduction of rent paid under section 80GG to Rs. 60,000.

9. Directly providing financial and other subsidies benefits to people who deserve them by enacting a new law and developing a social security platform using Aadhar.

10. Boosting formal sector employment by provisioning Rs. 1,000 cr towards contributing 8.33% on behalf of all new employees enrolling in EPFO for the first three years of their employment.

11. Simplified and pro-market tax measures such as laying out the roadmap of phasing out of exemptions under Corporate Taxes, abolishing small cesses, providing complete pass through of income-tax to securitization trusts and reducing period of obtaining long-term capital gains treatment for unlisted companies to three years.

12. Promoting entrepreneurship by increasing the turnover limit under Presumptive taxation scheme to Rs. 2 cr, targeting to disburse loans worth Rs. 1.8 lakh cr under PM Mudra Yojana and providing 100% deduction of profits for 3 out of 5 years for start-ups.

13. Facilitating Affordable Housing by 100% tax exemption for profits from small projects, not subjecting distribution REITs and INVITs to Dividend Distribution Tax and encouraging small first-time home buyers by deducting ¬additional interest of Rs. 50,000.

14. Reducing black money through a scheme to declare undisclosed income by paying 45% tax in a given compliance window.

15. Strengthening the financial sector by allocating Rs. 25,000 cr towards recapitalising Public Sector Banks (PSBs), listing Government-owned General Insurance companies, and spelling out a roadmap for consolidating PSBs.

Source: PIB News