Union Budget 2015-16

Expectations were high as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley began his speech at 11 am to present the Budget for 2015-16. Increased allocation for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), support for the ailing agriculture sector with farmers’ credit target of 8.5 lakh crore, enhanced allocation for infrastructure, major thrust to insurance and pension schemes, abolition of Wealth Tax and substituting it with two per cent cess on the super rich, a gold monetisation scheme to treat it as an alternative financial asset, reduction of Corporate Tax to 25 per cent from 30 per cent over the next four years and roll out of Goods and Services Tax (GST) by April 2016 were some of the key announcements he made. There was no change in individual tax slabs.

The key features of the Union Budget 2015-16 can be accessed as a PDF [274 KB] through the following link:

The complete speech of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presenting the Budget can be accessed as a PDF [124 KB] through the following link:

A single file containing the budget estimates and the broad aggregates of the Union Budget 2015-16 in PDF [613 KB] can be accessed through the following link:

After completing his speech, the Finance Minister tabled the Union Budget, Statement of Receipts and Expenditure and the Finance Bill. The Finance Bill 2015 can be accessed in PDF [364 KB] through the following link:

The Macro Economic Framework Statement, which contains an estimation of the growth potential of the economy, was also presented before the Lok Sabha along with the Union Budget 2015-16 in compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003. A PDF [245 KB] copy of the statement can be accessed using the following link:

Related links:

“India’s services sector remains the major driver of economic growth contributing 72.4 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in 2014-15. Services-sector growth has increased from 8.0 per cent in 2012-13 to 9.1 per cent in 2013-14 and further to 10.6 per cent in 2014-15. This is mainly due to growth”, says the Economic Survey, 2014-15.

The two-volume Survey can be accessed as a single PDF [6.8 MB] through the following link:

The Statistical Appendix can be accessed as a PDF [746 KB] through the following link:

The Railway Budget Speech, The Highlights of the Railway Budget and the White Paper on Indian Railways can be accessed through the following links: