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July 6, 2009
* Govt plans to bring back economy to high growth of 9%
* GDP growth dipped to 6.7% in FY'09
* FM to make pre-budget talks with state FMs annual affair
* Fiscal deficit up from 2.7% to 6.8% of GDP
* Return to fiscal prudence at the earliest
* 'Aam admi' is focus of all programmes and schemes
* IT exemption limit raised; Rs15,000 for senior citizens
* Limit raised by Rs10,000 for tax payers, including women
* 10% surcharge on personal income tax scrapped
* Fringe Benefit Tax abolished
* No change in corporate tax
* Defence gets Rs1.4 trillion, up 34%
* Total fiscal stimulus in 2008-09 amounts to Rs 1.9 trillion
* IIFCL to evolve mechanism for increased funding of infra
* IIFCL to re-finance commercial bank loans up to 60% in critical projects through PPP to tune of Rs1 trillion
* Allocations for highways being stepped up by 23%
* Funds for housing, amenities for urban poor up Rs39.7 billion
* Funds for JN Urban Renewal Mission up 87% to Rs128.9 billion
* Assistance for storm-water drainage project up by Rs3 billion
* Farm credit target up at Rs3.3 trillion from Rs2.9 trillion
* Interest rates incentive to farmers to repay loans on time
* Additional Rs10 billion for accelerated irrigation scheme
* Export Credit Guarantee scheme extended till March 2010
* 2% interest subvention (IS) scheme extended till March 2010
* IS scheme to cover 7 job-oriented sectors, including textile, handicrafts and handlooms.
* Commodity Transaction Tax abolished
* New pension system trust exempted from STT DDT
* Minimum Alternate Tax hiked to 15% from 10%
* Tax holiday on petro sector extended to natural gas
* 100% tax deduction on political donation
* Stimulus for print media for another six months
* Fertilizer subsidy to be nutrient-based, not price
* Expert Group to form viable pricing for imported petro goods
* Banks and insurance firms to remain in public sector
* Rs1 billion one-time grant to expand banks in unbanked areas
* Govt committed to provide Rs100 a day as wages under NREGA
* Allocation of Rs391 billion to be made for NREGA, NREGA coverage increased to 4.