The Indian Budget 2008 or India's budget for 2008 will be announced on 29th February, 2008. The year 2008 is a leap year and therefore this once in four years date for the Indian buget presentation this year. All Indians are hoping the budget as special as the year and the date.

There is a lot ofd excitement prior to the Indian budget 2008, nwithin and outside India. Indians are hoping for a cut in personal taxes and corporate income tax rates in the forthcoming India Budget 2008. Where the world waites and watches for stable FDI rules and and overall favourable budget to foreign investment.

Railway Budget 2008-09 Highlights

Union Budget 2008 Highlights

• Rs600bn agricultural debt relief package; complete loan waiver for small and marginal farmers; 4 crore farmers to benefit.
• Rs2.8 trillion target set for farm credit in 2008-09; short term crop loan to continue at 7% interest.
• Irrigation and water resources finance corporation to be set up; rainfed area development programme to be started.
• Rs39.66bn for schemes for scs and sts; Rs189.83bn for schemes earmarking 20% funds for scs and sts.
• Multi-sectoral development plans for all 90 minority concentration districts.
• All women self help groups credit-linked to banks to be covered under janashree bima yojana.
• National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to cover all 596 rural districts.
• A national programme to be launched for the elderly.
• Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana for workers under BPL category in unorganized sector.
• A statement on child related scheme introduced in the budget for the first time.
• Mid-day meal scheme to be extended to upper primary classes in all blocks.
• Special mechanism for north-eastern border areas.
• Government to establish 16 central universities.
• 3 IITs, 2 IISs and 2 schools of planning and architecture to be established.
• 6,000 high quality model schools to be opened.
• New scholarship scheme for promoting innovations in science.
• Each district to have a Nehru Yuva Kendra.
• Schools in water deficient habitations to have drinking water systems.
• Subsidy on houses under Indira Awas Yojana increased from Rs25,000 to Rs35,000 in plain areas and from Rs27,500 to Rs38,500 in hill/difficult area.
• Rs10bn provided for Aam Adami Bima Yojana.
• Allocation under Indira Gandhi Old Age Pension Scheme increased from Rs23.92bn to Rs34.43bn.
• Rs326.67bn provided for food subsidy under public distribution system.
• Rs10bn provided for establishing a non-profit corporation for skill development.
• Rs7.5bn allocated for upgrading 300 ITIs.
• Six mega-clusters planned for handlooms, powerlooms and handicrafts.
• Government to provide Rs164.36bn as equity support and Rs30.03bn as loans to central public sector enterprises.
• Backward region grant fund retained at Rs58bn; Bihar , Orissa and UIttar Pradesh to get nearly 45% of the amount.
• Income tax exemption limit hiked to Rs1.5 lakh; 10% tax for income between Rs1.5 lakh and Rs3 lakh; 20% between Rs3 lakh and Rs5 lakh. Income above Rs5,00,001 to attract 30% income tax.
• Exemption limit for women tax payers increased to Rs1,80,000 and for senior citizens to Rs2,25,000.
• No change in corporate income tax rates and surcharge.
• No change in the peak rate of customs duty.
• Customs duty on project imports slashed from 7.5% to 5%.
• Duty on steel and aluminnum scrap abolished.
• Excise duty on pharmaceutical sector reduced from 16% to 8%.
• Small cars, two and three wheelers, buses and their chassis to cost less.
• Non filter cigarettes to cost more, excise on non filter cigarettes will be at par with filter cigarettes.
• Four more services brought under service tax net.
• Threshold limit of exemption for small service providers increased from Rs8 lakh to Rs10 lakh.
• Customs duty on crude and unrefined sulphur brought down from 5% to 2%.
• Export duty on chrome ore increased from Rs2000 to Rs3000 per metric ton.
• Cenvat on all goods reduced from 16% to 14%.
• Central sales tax proposed to be reduced to 2% from April 2008.
• Excise duty on bulk cement brought on par with packaged cement; clinkers to attract excise duty of Rs450 per metric ton.
• PAN made compulsory for all transactions in the financial market subject to suitable exemption limit.
• Allocation for defence increased by 10% from Rs960bn to Rs1.06 trillion.
• Revenue deficit estimated at Rs551.84bn.
• Fiscal deficit pegged at 2.5% of GDP.

Source: Indiainfoline.com

Highlights Of The Railway Budget 2008-09

Double digit growth in traffic earnings maintained in first nine months.
• Growth in passenger earnings 14%. Growth in originating passengers 5.6% - better than budgeted growth.
• Incremental loading of 43 million tonnes (MT) in first nine months; likely to be 62 MT for the year.
• Revised target for loading 790 MT. Expected growth in goods earnings 14%.
• In Revised Estimates Goods Earnings, Passenger Earnings, Sundry and Other Coaching Earnings fixed at Rs 477.43 billion, Rs 200.75 billion, Rs 26.37 billion and Rs 22 billion respectively.
• Gross Traffic Revenues at Rs 727.55 billion - 16% higher than the previous year and 2% higher than the Budget Estimates.
• Ordinary Working Expenses register savings of Rs 9.66 billion.
• Operating Ratio likely to improve from the budgeted 79.6 to 76.3%, best in last four decades.
• Return on Capital - an all time high of 21%.
• Cash Surplus before dividend expected to be a record Rs 250 billion.
• Net Revenue expected at Rs 184.16 billion and surplus after payment of dividend expected at Rs 135.34 billion.
• Likely year end fund balances Rs 204.83 billion, 27% more than budgeted target.

  Initiatives in Passenger Business

  Improvements in ticketing

• Termination of queues at ticket counters targeted in two years.
• Increase in UTS counters to to 15,000 and ATVM s to 6000 over two years.
• Ticket booking on mobile phones.
• Extension of Jansadharan Ticket booking seva.
• E-ticket for waitlisted passengers.
• Ticket on `Go Mumbai Card` in Mumbai Suburban.

  Passenger Amenities

• Provision of on-line coach indication display board; on-line train arrival departure information board; on-line reservation availability information board.
• Provision of discharge-free green toilets in all 36,000 coaches in XI Plan Period at a cost of about Rs 40 billion.
• LHB design coaches for all Rajdhani and Shatabadi trains over next few years.
• Provision of LHB coaches with stainless steel bogies in Mail/Express trains.
• Special stress on cleanliness - on-board cleaning in passenger trains.
• Extending the public address system in passenger coaches of select mail/express trains.
• Increase in the height of a number of platforms.
• Provision of platform shelters at all D category stations.
• Provision of foot-over bridges at all high-level platforms.
• Increase in length of 30 more platforms.
• Provision of multi-level parking, lifts and escalators at major stations.

  Concessions

• Senior citizen concession for women enhanced to 50% from existing 30%.
• Free MST to girl students up to graduation level in place of 12th standard and for boys up to 12th standard in place of 10th standard.
• Ashok Chakra Awardees also to be provided the facility of traveling in Rajdhani and Shatabadi trains on card passes issued to them.
• AIDS patients traveling to nominated ART centres for treatment to be given 50% concession in second class passenger fares.

  Initiatives in Freight Business

• Target for loading kept at 850 Million Tons (MT) in 2008-09 incremental loading of 60 MT or more, consecutively for the fourth year.
• Blue Print prepared for High Density Network: Phased execution of capacity augmentation including dedicated freight corridors, doubling, third and fourth lines, bye passes, flyovers, automatic signaling works etc over next 7 years at cost of about Rs 750 billion.
• Coal routes: Most routes to be made fit for 25t axle load trains. Focus on throughput enhancement works serving important coal links- many new works proposed.
• Port Traffic - Mission 300 MT: Top priority being given to port rail connectivity projects.
• Steel Udyog - Mission 200 MT: targeted traffic of 200 MT by 2011-12. New and dedicated iron ore routes to be upgraded/constructed for 25-ton to 30-ton axle load trains. Throughput enhancement works of doubling and trebling of lines also being undertaken.
• Cement Industry - Mission 200 MT: targeted traffic of 200 MT by 2011-12. New lines, throughput enhancement through gauge conversion and extension of lines to serve cement clusters in various regions.
• Container Business- Mission 100 MT: Increased investments expected in container rolling stock and ICD s by CONCOR and other operators.
• Dedicated Freight Corridor: Work on Eastern freight corridor from Ludhiana to Dankuni (Kolkata) and Western freight corridor from Delhi to JNPT to start in 2008-09.
• Procurement of Rolling stock: All-time high of 20,000 wagons, 250 diesel and 220 electric locomotives to be manufactured.
• New design wagons of high capacity to be produced.
• New Wagon Leasing Policy and new Wagon Investment Scheme formulated to increase availability of wagons in the system.
• Discounts for development of Bulk and non-bulk goods terminals.
• Railways to mark presences in Door to Door Logistics services.
• Empowered Strategic Business Unit to be set up at the Apex Level- single window system for emerging business opportunities and client support.

  Planning for Railways new Profile

• Vision 2025 document setting the road map for coming 17 years customer centric and market responsive strategic initiatives and action plans.
• Information Technology Vision 2012- radical changes in technology and processes through seamless integration of IT applications on a common platform with focus on improvement in operational efficiency, transparency in working and better services to the customers.
• Multi-Departmental Innovation Promotion Group at Apex Level.

  Other Initiatives

• Public Private Partnership schemes to be launched for attracting investment of Rs 1,000 billion over the next five years for developing world class stations, rolling stock manufacturing, multi modal logistics parks, running of container trains etc.
• Commercial use of Railway land by Rail Land Development Authority to give boost to Railway Revenues.

  Passenger Services

• 10 new Garib Raths to be introduced
• New Trains : 53 pairs
• Extension of Trains : 16 pairs
• Increase in Frequency : 11 pairs
• Special train from Anandpur Sahib and Patna Sahib to Gurudwara Sachkhand Sahib during tercentenary function of Shri Guru Granth Sahib Gurta

  Gaddi

• Special train between Pune and Delhi for Commonwealth Youth Games being held in Pune from Oct. 12 to Oct. 18, 2008
• 300 additional services in Mumbai suburban

  Annual Plan 2008-09

• The Annual Plan of Rs 375 billion is the largest ever Annual Plan so far
  Support of Rs 78.74 billion from General Revenues.
  Internal Resources of Rs 211.26 billion.
  Extra Budgetary Resources of Rs 85 billion.
• Thrust areas of Annual Plan include activities relating to throughput enhancement of high density network routes, improvement and expansion of traffic facility and network, construction of flyovers, bypasses, IBS, upgradation of goods shed.
• Outlay on project Planheads : New Lines Rs 17.30 billion, Gauge conversion Rs 24.89 billion. Electrification Rs 6.26 billion, Metropolitan Transport Projects Rs 6.50 billion.
• Outlay on Safety related Planheads: Track renewal Rs 36 billion, Bridges Rs 6 billion, Signal & Telecommunication works Rs 15.20 billion, Road over/under bridges Rs 7 billion and manning of unmanned level crossings Rs 6 billion.
• Outlay for Rolling Stock : All time high of Rs 110.45 billion.
• Outlay for Passenger Amenities Rs 8.52 billion the highest so far.
• Important Targets: New Lines 350 kms, Gauge Conversion 2,150 kms, Doubling 1,000 kms.
• National Projects: Funds to be made available by Ministry of Finance based on the actual progress of works during the course of the year Rs 17.12 billion asked for from Ministry of Finance.
• The number of National projects increased from 4 to 8.
• MUTP Phase II to be started at a cost of Rs 50 billion, financed jointly by Railways and State Government of Maharashtra, with multi-lateral funding.

  Other Important Announcements

• Ordinance for Land Acquisition Act to be passed for expeditious acquisition of land for important railway projects on the pattern of NHAI Act.
• Indian Rail Bijli Company Ltd.- a joint venture with NTPC for 1000 MW thermal power plant at Nabinagar District of Aurangabad, Bihar.
• A new rail coach factory to be set up in Kerala.
• A new wagon re-construction unit to be set up at Garkha in Chapra District.
• Modernization and development of Jamalpur Workshop.
• Modernization of Lilluah workshop , Perambur loco workshop, Ajmer loco workshop.
• Railways to takeover Mokama and Muzaffarpur wagon factories. Budget Estimates for 2008-09
• Freight loading target: 850 million tons, freight output: 550 BTKM s.
• Revenues in Freight, Passenger, other Coaching and Sundry other earnings to be Rs.527 billion, Rs.216.81 billion, Rs.24.20 billion and Rs 50 billion respectively.
• Gross Traffic Receipts to be Rs 819.01 billion, an increase of 12.6% over RE.
• Ordinary Working Expenses to be at Rs.500 billion.
• Cash surplus before Dividend to be Rs.247.83 billion after making an ad-hoc provision of nearly Rs 50 billion for anticipated recommendations of the VI CPC.
• Operating Ratio is expected to be 81.4 %, even after impact of ad hoc provision for VI Pay Commission recommendations.

  Proposals relating to freight rates and passenger fares Passenger

• Reduction in passenger fares.
• One rupee discount per passenger for fares up to Rs. 50 in Non Suburban Second Class (ordinary and mail /express).
• 5% discount across the board for passenger fares beyond Rs 50 for all Non Suburban Second class (ordinary and mail/express ).
• Increase in discount for travel in new design high capacity reserved coaches.
• Rationalization of AC class fares completed.
• Relativity index of fares for AC-I class reduced from 1.150 to 1.000 and from 650 to 600 for AC-II tier. Reduction in fare: o AC I 7%
  o AC II 4%
  o For popular trains and during peak period the above reduction will be half as in the previous year.
  

  Freight

• No across the board increase in freight rates.
• Highest class 210 reduced to 200 concluding rationalization process.
• 5% reduction in freight rates for Petrol and Diesel.
• Fly ash- reduction in classification from class 140 to 120; 14 % reduction in freight rate.
• Liberalization of Traditional Empty Flow direction incentive scheme.
• 30 % discount on entire traffic in place of incremental traffic booked from goods shed.
• Some commodities excluded
• Increase in discount on incremental traffic booked from private sidings from 30% to 40%.
• Composite base freight rate to be charged for all unclassified commodities in place of highest class: Tank Wagons Class 200
  Flat Wagons Class 180
  Open (including Hopper) Wagons Class 160
  Covered Wagons Class 150
  
• 6% freight concession for traffic booked from other states for stations in North Eastern states.
• Special lump sum rates for Merry-Go-Round (MGR) services for customers who will provide track, OHE and terminals at both ends.