An interim Budget presented by the stand-in finance minister Piyush Goyal at the cusp of a crucial national election ahead heralded a refreshing new age outlook. The budget delivered. It was a class act to harness two birds with one stone –  targeting two critical sections of the electoral that is both, economically distressed and are crucial electoral constituencies.

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In a very welcome move, interim finance minister Piyush Goyal reduced tax outgo to zero for those with income upto Rs 5 lakh. It means those with income upto Rs 5 lakh will not pay any tax. However, this is not an increase in the minimum exemption limit, which stays at Rs 2.5 lakh. Those with income exceeding Rs 5 lakh will have to pay 5 percent tax on income between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh. Taxpayers with total income not in excess of Rs 5 lakh will be offered a rebate of zero tax via section 87A.

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Congress President Rahul Gandhi: "On Monday at 5.30 pm, we (Opposition leaders) will go to the election commission over EVMs. You can waive off Rs 3.5 Lakh Crore loan of 15 people but give only Rs 17 per day to farmers! What else is this, if not an insult? Election will be fought keeping in mind issue of farmers, unemployment & attacks on institutions, it'll also be on the issue of Rafale."

There has been no hike in passenger fare and freight charges in the Interim Budget announced by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal Friday, which also saw the highest ever capital expenditure allocation of Rs 1.58 lakh crore for the national transporter. With Lok Sabha elections slated to be held in April-May, hikes in fares were not expected. Last year, then finance minister Arun Jaitley had allocated an amount of Rs 1.48 lakh crore for the Railways in his budget.

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"This has been a fabulous budget and I compliment my good friend and Finance Minister Piyush Goyal for a fantastic job. The FM has managed to do something for a large cross section of society - the middle class, the farmers, workers in the unorganised sector. At the same time, he has ensured that fiscal deficit remains at 3.4%. This is a people's budget that will help the economy and also lays down a vision for the next 10 years. This could well be a game changer budget in this election year."

"I feel that the government with this budget has certainly injected a lot of josh without losing its hosh!"

Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday announced launch of Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Mandhan (PMSYM) scheme to provide unorganised workers an assured monthly pension of Rs 3,000 after 60 years of age. The scheme will attract matching contribution of Rs 100 per month from government as well as from workers. Besides, pension scheme for unorganised workers, Goyal also announced hiking of tax free gratuity to Rs 30 lakh from existing Rs 20 lakh for employees having service of more than five years.

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Pitching for bridging urban-rural divide, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said the country's poor have the first right over nation's resources. Presenting the budget for 2019-20 in the Lok Sabha, Goyal said, "We plan to provide urban facilities in rural areas while preserving 'soul of village'."

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Let us begin by looking at how financial markets reacted to today's interim Budget - while the Rupee is one of the worst performing currencies today, in the rates space - the 2028 yield has risen nearly 15 basis points (bps). Finally, the stock market has cut its gains in half. At the day's high, the Nifty was up a 153 points, by close it was up only 60 points. So what is making the markets nervous? Read to know more

Mark Mobius, Founding Partner of Mobius Capital Partners, said that the Budget announced by finance minister Piyush Goyal was "excellent" for the stock market.

"I think this budget is excellent for the stock market, I think it is a great package for us because we have been focusing on consumer stocks and this is a great boon for consumer companies. So, I think it is an excellent budget," said Mobius.

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Krish Iyer, President and CEO, Walmart India said: "The Interim Budget of 2019 is rightly focusing on the middle class, rural sector and on enhancing farmers' income. It is giving huge resources in the hands of people which will drive rural income and consumption. Growing consumption is critical to support and boost local manufacturing and job creation in the country. Overall, this Budget maintains focus on fiscal consolidation and is a win-win budget for all as it will help bridge the divide between India and Bharat.  It’s heartening to note that fiscal deficit has been contained at 3.4% despite the aforesaid initiatives.”

The residential real estate sector was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Interim Budget, with big-ticket announcements for homebuyers and developers alike. While builders will benefit from a one-year extension of both the deadline to register affordable housing projects and the exemption on tax on unsold inventory, the budget has good news for homebuyers as well, especially if you own two houses.

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Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy said: "I want to ask if this budget was prepared by officials of Finance dept or RSS? In this budget, Narendra Modi has given cotton candy for farmers. When I announced loan waiver scheme, PM mocked it as lollipop. Friends of BJP have prepared this budget."

Sanjiv Puri, Managing Director, ITC Ltd said: "The Interim Budget proposals should augur well for the Indian economy by providing a growth impetus through a boost in consumption as well as an inclusive framework designed to benefit agri and rural communities, unorganised sector workers as well the middle class. The PM Kisan Samman Nidhi programme, the move to set up 1,00,000 digital villages and the increase in allocation to rural infrastructural development will indeed go a long way in enabling empowerment of rural communities." 

Finance minister Piyush Goyal presented an interim budget stuffed with largesse targeted at the salaried middle class and rural poor, in what is being seen as an exercise clearly aimed at wooing these sections ahead of the general elections due in May. The income tax exemption limit for the salaried middle class has been raised to Rs 5 lakh for 2019-20. The government will launch a social security coverage for workers in the unorganised sector and - vulnerable farmers will receive Rs 6,000 rupees a year from December 2018 under a new scheme titled PM Kisaan Samman Nidhi.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Budget 2019: From middle class to labourers, from farmers’ growth to the development of businessmen, from manufacturing to MSME sector, from growth of the economy to development of New India, everyone has been taken care of in this interim budget. It's generosity and honesty of middle class and upper middle class which provides tax to the nation through which schemes are formulated and there is welfare of poor, the PM further said. There was always the demand to exempt those, with annual income upto Rs 5 Lakh, from taxation, he added. Our govt fulfilled this.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: This is an Interim Budget. This is just a trailer of the budget which, after elections, will take India on the path to development. 

Interim finance minister Piyush Goyal has presented its first ever budget and as expected came out with the much-needed goodies for the middle class tax payers. Let’s see some of the major benefits as announced in the budget impacting your income tax payments in the coming financial year.

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-As an election budget, the aspiration of the 2 classes of the people have been addressed. The allocation to the agricultural sector of more than 75,000 Cr is a major benefit for the farmers and the rebate of income tax upto Rs. 5 Lakhs makes for substantial benefit for the middle class.

-An interesting development is on capital gains tax where the benefit of capital gains exemption is extended to investment in 2 residential properties as against 1 residential property.

-Cash flow benefits to the middle class will be substantial that the combination of higher rebate of income tax, standard deduction increase by INR 10,000 and enhanced thresholds for levy of TDS on interest and rent.

-The real estate sector has some cheer by extension of the tax exemption u/s 80IBA and the increase in period of exemption of notional rent on self-occupied property from 1 year to 2 years.

Finance minister Piyush Goyal made major announcement in the interim Budget 2019 which included farm relief package, full tax exemption for income up to Rs 5 lakh crore, pension scheme for the unorganised sector among others. Below are the 10 key highlights of finance ministry Piyush Goyal's speech.

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In a major relief for the salaried class, finance minister Piyush Goyal announced full tax exemption for income up to Rs 5 lakh per year. Individuals falling under the said tax slab will get full tax rebate.

Here are the key highlights.

Here are the main highlights from Finance minister Piyush Goyal's post-budget press conference:

-Our govt. has initiated the World's largest behavioral change movement with the Swachh Bharat Mission. India has achieved 98% rural sanitation coverage and as many as 5.45 lack villages have been declared.

-A holistic approach has been taken by the Government for the welfare of all sections of citizenry: FM Shri Piyush Goyal. 

• FY19 Fiscal Deficit seen at 3.4% of GDP (versus 3.3% projected earlier)
• Allocated Rs 20,000 cr for farm income scheme for FY19
• FY20 Fiscal Deficit target set at 3.4% of GDP
• Allocated Rs 75,000 cr for farm income scheme for FY20
• Without farmer package, Fiscal Deficit for FY20 would have been 3.1%
• India to achieve 3% Fiscal Deficit by FY21
• Current account deficit seen at 2.5% of GDP this year
• Aim to bring down Debt-to-GDP ratio to 40% by FY25 vs 46.5% in FY18
• India attracted USD 239 billion as FDI in last 5 years

Catch all updates from the budget here: Union Budget 2019-20 LIVE

Interim finance minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said 10 lakh patients have been treated so far under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, the world's largest health care programme. He also said the government has provided 10 percent reservation for economically weaker sections, which will create 2 lakh seats in educational institutions alone, Goyal said while presenting the budget 2019-20 in the Lok Sabha.

Here is what Piyush Goyal said on social sector

Reacting on the budget 2019, Senior Congress leader S Tharoor said: "The whole exercise has turned out to be a damn squib. We've seen one good thing that is tax exemption for the middle class. Rs 6000 in income support for farmers boils down to Rs 500 per month. Is that supposed to enable them to live with the honour and dignity?"

Earlier, Neeru Ahuja, Partner, Deloitte said: We all were expecting it, If we add up all the things then people with an annual income around Rs 7.5 lakh won’t have to pay tax. It wasn’t the full budget, it was interim budget, so I would give it a 8/8.5 out of 10.