Budget 2015: Jaitley takes black money head on, disincentivises cash payments

While presenting the Union Budget 2015-16, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that he will make schemes to disincentivise cash payments. He said he wanted to make India a cashless society, which means more debit card usage. P Chidambaram had introuced and abolished the Banking Cash Transaction Tax. [caption id=“attachment_2127533” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. AP[/caption] Jaitley also promised a new tax regime at par with the rest of the world. This means tax breaks for business will be reduced. The distinction between FII and FDI investment is to be abandoned. To wean the public away from gold imports, government will issue its own gold coins, with the Ashok Chakra mark. The Finance Minister also set up the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund with Rs 20,000 crore contribution from the government. The Budget also provided additional funds for investment in infrastructure, Rs 70,000 crore more in 2015-16 over the previous year. Rail and road companies can also issue tax-free infrastructure bonds to raise funds for investment. Government will also establish five ultra mega power projects, but this will given to private entrepreneurs only after all clearances are obtained. This will catalyse investments of Rs 1 lakh crore. Bond markets will be deepened. Small ports may be corporatised to raise funds and grow. Start-ups will also get a boost, especially in IT. A Rs 1,000 crore fund was announced for the same. Government also established incubation and facilitation programme for start-ups in technology.