Page 253 - General Knowledge
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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.
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