Budget 2016-17

  

NEW DELHI: Highlighting the need to focus on maternal and child health for a long run growth, the Economic Survey 2015-16 called for early life interventions and low-cost investments in maternal nutrition and sanitation programmes.

Pointing at a high neonatal mortality rate and increasing number of underweight pregnant women, the survey emphasized on the need for nourishment during pregnancy.

Out of all the infants who die in India, 70% die in the first month, primarily because of low birth weight, according to the survey tabled in the Parliament by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday.

The survey also highlighted 42.2% of Indian women are underweight at the beginning of pregnancy. Even during pregnancy, they gain only about 7kgs, which is substantially less than the 12.5-18 kg gain as is recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for underweight women.

The survey stressed that relatively low-cost maternal and early life health and nutrition programmes offer very high returns on investments.

"Given that maternal health casts a long shadow on an individual's cognitive development and life changes, investing in maternal health could become a top policy priority of the government," the survey said, adding programmes targeting younger children are also relatively cheaper investments.

Though the National Food Security Act, 2013 provides for a universal cash entitlement of at least Rs 6,000 for pregnant women in order to improve nutrition during pregnancy, the survey highlighted concerns about getting the government funds into the hands of pregnant women.

It recommended pairing cash transfers with education about pregnancy weight gain.

It also said that breast-feeding illustrates how some investments by the state can lead to tangible changes in social norms in a relatively short period of time. As per the survey, programmes like 'Janani Suraksha Yojana' and other schemes under the Integrated Child Development Scheme delivered via anganwadi programme has increased the proportion of breast-feeding mothers to 62%.

Defense News-- Budget

Parrikar reviewed the overall status of defence acquisition (supply order or contract signed) over the last two years involving Rs 1.5 lakh crore

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Budget, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today directed his officials to make concerted efforts to get cleared 86 acquisition proposals involving Rs 1.5 lakh crore within the first quarter of the next financial year.

Parrikar also sought a review of proposed capital acquisition and budgetary requirements for the next decade, which he said would be an ongoing exercise.

Parrikar reviewed the overall status of defence acquisition (supply order or contract signed) over the last two years involving Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

He also took stock of the long pending short range surface to air missile system (SRSAM) project for the Navy, for which the DRDO had initiated talks with French firm MBDA last year.

The review of the projects was done at a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Parrikar in the South Block.

"The DAC focused primarily on review of overall status of defence acquisition over last two years," sources in the Defence Ministry said.

They said a total of 81 capital acquisition schemes have matured since June 2014 and a letter of intent for construction of nine Mine Counter-Measure Vehicles have been given to Goa Shipyard on a nomination basis.

"The cleared proposals thus amount to Rs 1.5 lakh crore. While 81 schemes have fully matured during this period, 66 procurement schemes worth nearly Rs 2 lakh crore have been accorded Acceptance of Necessity," the sources said.

They added that Parrikar took note of the fact despite concerted efforts to expedite procurement, there still remained 314 cases which have not yet fructified.

Out of these, 86 schemes, approximately worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore are close to final stages of approval.

"The Minister has directed that all concerned should make concerted efforts to get these cases cleared in the next 4-5 months, which means within the first quarter of the next financial year," sources said.

In addition, he advised the Services to review their pending acquisition proposals which have not fructified for a long time for their "contemporary relevance".

Parrikar also sought a review of proposed capital acquisition proposals for the next 10 years.

The Minister said this would be an ongoing exercise to refine and further mature long term projections.

The DAC also accorded approval of procurement for 619 high mobility vehicles under by option clause from TATA worth Rs 457 crore.

Budget 2016: Tax Incentives To Give Major Push For E-Payments

New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is likely to introduce tax benefits for e-payments in this year’s Budget following recommendations made by the Payments Council of India (PCI).

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is likely to introduce tax benefits for e-payments in this year’s Budget.

“We are extremely confident that in this year’s Budget, merchants and customers will get a major incentive from the government for digital transactions. This government is very serious about the Digital India push,” said Paresh Rajde, managing director of Suvidhaa Infoserv and a member of the PCI committee that formulated the recommendations.

In the submission to the ministry in December, the Payments Council of India said, “To incentivise players in the market to operate payment gateway systems and also to ensure capital for investment in further development of such solutions, we recommend offering tax incentives/tax holidays to such businesses.”

The government said in one of its communications to the council that merchants with more than 50% of their transactions done digitally could get a tax rebate or a 1-2% reduction in value-added tax on all electronic transactions. Consumers could get some income tax rebates if they showed a certain portion of their net expenses was incurred digitally.

The government also plans to do away with the convenience fee charged for online utility bill payments. “Payments companies are helping in the process of financial inclusion, but our business works on thin margins and longer gestation periods, hence we should be treated at par with infrastructure companies and the government should look into the tax issues we are facing,” said Naveen Surya, chairman of PCI.

The committee also recommended that the government look into the matter of tax deducted at source, which blocks working capital for payment aggregators. “We have to pay a hefty fee to the acquiring bank for every transaction and the margin for our trade is very thin. Often, because of TDS, we have to pay the government from our own pockets because we are not profitmaking and by the time the returns come, my business is already in the doldrums,” said Ketan Doshi, managing director of PayPoint India.

Rajde said that for India to realise the dream of digitisation, doing electronic transactions is important. “We have seen the Korea model where they shifted from a cash-heavy society to digital. This was achieved through incentivisation,” he said.