Page 253 - General Knowledge

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE 2019

 Nakul Swasthya Paatra, E-Pashudhan Haat and National Genomic Centre for indigenous
breeds.
Highlights of Union Budget 2015-16
Overview of the Economy
 Aiming at 7-8 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 3-4 years.
 Decline in fiscal deficit from 5.7 per cent in 2011-12 to 4.5 per cent in 2013-14 mainly
achieved by reduction in expenditure rather than by way of realisation of higher revenue.
 Road map for fiscal consolidation outlines fiscal deficit of 3.6 per cent for 2015-16 and 3 per
cent for 2016-17.
 Improvement in current account deficit (CAD) from 4.7 per cent in 2012-13 to year-end level
of 1.7 per cent mainly achieved through restriction on non-essential import and slow-down
in overall aggregate demand.
Administrative Initiatives
 A stable and predictable taxation regime which will be investor friendly and spur growth.
 Resident tax payers enabled to obtain on advance ruling in respect of their income-tax
liability above a defined threshold.
 New Urea Policy would be formulated.
 Introduction of GST to be given thrust.
 High level committee to interact with trade and industry on regular basis to ascertain areas
requiring clarity in tax laws is required to be set up.
 Employment exchanges to be transformed into career centres.
 A sum of Rs 100 crore (US$ 1.67 million) provided.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
 The composite cap in the insurance sector to be increased up to 49 per cent from 26 per
cent with full Indian management and control through the FIPB route.
 Requirement of the built up area and capital conditions for FDI to be reduced from 50,000
square metres to 20,000 square metres and from US$ 10 million to US$ 5 million
respectively for development of smart cities.
Bank Capitalization
 Requirement to infuse Rs 240,000 crore as equity by 2018 in our banks to be in line with
BaseI-III norms.
 Capital of banks to be raised by increasing the shareholding of the people in a phased
manner.
 ―This will enhance capital flows in to the securitisation industry and will particularly be
helpful to deal with bank NPAs,‖ the speech noted.
 The budget has set aside only Rs10, 000 crore for bank recapitalization, lower than the
Rs25, 000 crore figure for the current year.
 The Indradhanush scheme says that state-owned lenders will receive Rs70, 000 crore by
March 2017 as capital infusion from the government to meet their higher capital requirement
under the Basel-III regime.
 Despite that, a gauge of state-owned bank stocks rose 4%.
 ―Overall it‘s a neutral budget. Low fiscal deficit and lack of any populist measures like the
farm loan waiver turned out to be positive for the banking stocks.
 Lower deficit will also ensure that Reserve Bank of India has more space to cut rates.
 The only negative thing is lower capital infusion in public sector banks,‖ said Suresh
Ganapathy, associate director, Macquarie Capital Securities India.

249 | P a g e shop.ssbcrack.com