UNION BUDGET 2012-13 HIGHLIGHTS

Income tax exemption limit raised to Rs.2 lakh to provide relief of Rs.2,000 for all assessees; 20 per cent tax on income over Rs.10 lakh, up from Rs.8 lakh

Deduction of up to Rs.10,000 from interest from savings bank accounts. Defence to get Rs.1.93 lakh crore during 2012-13. Service tax rate raised from 10 per cent to 12 per cent to bring in Rs.18,660 crore.

 No change in corporate taxes National Skill Development Fund allocated

Rs.1,000 crore. Excise duty raised from 10 to 12 per cent. Cinema industry exempted from service tax. Branded silver jewellery fully exempt from excise duty. Customs duty on warning systems/track upgrade equipment for railways reduced from 10 per cent to 7.5 per cent. Import duty on equipment for iron ore mining reduced from 7.5 to 2.5 per cent.

 Allocation of Rs.200 crore for research on

climate change. Allocation of Rs.14,000 crore for rural water supply and sanitation. Infusion of Rs.15,888 crore in public sector banks, regional rural banks and NABARD in 2012-13. Infrastructure will require Rs.50 lakh crore in 12th Hope to raise Rs.30,000 crore from disinvestments.Plan, half of this from the private sector.

 Current account deficit 3.6 per cent in 2011-12;

this put pressure on exchange rate. Growth in 2012-13 estimated at 7.6 per cent GDP growth in 2011-12 estimated at 6.9 per cent

RAILWAY BUDGET 2012

Focus: Safety, consolidation, decongestion

and modernisation. plan outlay for the railways at Rs. 60,100 crore, of which Rs. 50,000 crore market borrowing Exp train fare up by 5 paise per km, 10 paise per km for AC chair car, 10 paise per km for AC 3-tier, 15 p per km for AC 2-tier, 30 paise per km for AC First class

 Targeting freight carriage of 1,025 million tonnes

to bring in Rs.89,339 crore; passenger earnings estimated at Rs.36,073 crore; gross receipts estimated at Rs.1.32 lakh crore Dedicated railway design wing at National Institute of Design with a contribution of Rs.10 crore New passenger services: 820 new items; 75 new express trains; 21 new passenger trains; 75 new services in Mumbai suburban system. Surplus with railways at Rs. 1,492 crore in current year as against targeted Rs. 5,258 crore.

 Guru Parikarma special trains to cover Sikh

pilgrimage centres of Amritsar, Patna and Nanded.

Eighty-five new line projects to be taken up

during 2012-13.
Focus during next five years on five areas: tracks,

bridges, signalling, rolling stock and stations.

Investment of Rs.1.70 lakh crore on rolling stock

in next five years.

 Attempt to increase train speeds to 160 kmph

Aim to bring down operating ratio from 90 percent to 84.9 percent in 2012-13 and to 72 percent by 2016-17
Railways to invest Rs.7.35 lakh crore during 12th

Five Year Plan period (2012-17), a quantum jump from the Rs.1.92 lakh crore invested in previous plan period.

ECONOMIC SURVEY-2012
India FY12 growth pegged at 6.9% FY12 industrial growth pegged at 4-5% FY12 farm growth pegged at 2.5% FY12 services sector growth pegged at 9.4% FY13 growth pegged at 7.6% FY14 growth pegged at 8.6%

BRICS SUMMIT 2012-NEW DELHI

Iran: Cautions the West against allowing the Iranian situation to escalate into conflict. Backs dialogue to resolve the Iranian nuclear

impasse BRICS bank: Called South-South Development Bank, will promote mutual investment and fund infrastructure projects in BRICS and developing countries

 Syria: Backs a Syria-led democratic transition. BRICS voices "deep concern" over Syria and calls for "an immediate end to all violence

and violations of human rights" and backs a Syrian-led political process.

Backs speedier resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the creation of an independent Palestine co-existing with Israel.

NATIONAL AWARDS
Best Film Kannada film Byari and Marathi

film Deool Best Hindi Film I Am Best Actor Girish Kulkarni (Marathi film Deool) Best Actress Vidya Balan (The Dirty Picture) Best Child Actor Partho Gupte (Stanley Ka Dabba) and Chillar Party kids

 Best Director Gurvinder Singh (Punjabi film

Anhe Ghore Da Daan) Best Childrens Film Chillar Party Best Book Anirudha Bhattacharjee, Balaji Vittal (RD Burman The Man The Music) Best Film Critic Manoj P Pujari Best Playback Singer Male Anand Bhate Best Playback Singer Female Rupa Ganguly Best Dialogues Girish Kulkarni (Deool) Best Editing Praveen KL (Aranya Kandam)

ACADEMY AWARDS: 2012 (OSCARS)

ACTOR IN A LEAD ROLEWINNER: Jean

Dujardin in "The Artist ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLEWINNER: Christopher Plummer in "Beginners ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLEWINNER: Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLEWINNER: Octavia Spencer in "The Help

 ANIMATED FEATURE FILMWINNER: "Rango"

Gore Verbinski DIRECTING: "The Artist" Michel Hazanavicius FILM EDITINGWINNER: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM"A Separation"

Iran MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)WINNER: "The Artist" Ludovic Bource BEST PICTURE: "The Artist"

KEY BANKING RATES:

Bank Rate 9.00% Repo Rate 8.00% Reverse Repo Rate 7.00% Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) 4.75% Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) 24.0%

Thank you