Budget 2025: Major announcements by FM Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech

In a relief to the middle class Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday exempted annual income of up to Rs 12 lakh from income tax and rejigged tax slabs as part of her reformist BudgetPresenting her eighth straight Budget in the Lok Sabha Sitharaman laid out a blueprint for nextgeneration reforms including raising the FDI limit in the insurance sector simplification of tax laws and cutting duties on intermediaries while providing enhanced fiscal support for welfare measuresThis she did while sticking to the fiscal consolidation roadmap that projected the fiscal deficit to come down to 44 per cent of the GDP in the financial year 202526For the current financial year fiscal deficit has been pegged at 48 per cent of GDPTo bridge the fiscal deficit gap the government is set to raise resources from the market to the tune of Rs 1154 lakh crore on a net basis for the next fiscal yearHere are major announcements made by FM Nirmala Sitharaman in Budget 2025No tax on income of upto Rs 12 lakhNo income tax will be payable on income up to Rs 12 lakh providing significant relief to taxpayers especially the middle class This limit will be Rs 1275 lakh rupees for salaried taxpayers counting Rs 75000 of the standard deduction Sitharaman also stated that the new income tax regime will be simpler with a special focus on benefiting the middle classFollowing are the revised slabs and rates under the new tax regime announced in the FY26 BudgetIncome up to Rs 4 lakh per annum NilBetween Rs 4 and 8 lakh 5 per cent taxBetween Rs 8 and 12 lakh 10 per centBetween Rs 12 and 16 lakh 15 per centBetween Rs16 and 20 lakh 20 per centBetween Rs 20 and 24 lakh 25 per centAbove Rs 24 lakh 30 per centGovt to set up daycare cancer centres in all district hospitals over next 3 yearsThe government will facilitate the setting up of daycare cancer centres in all district hospitals over the next three years and 200 of these will be established in 202526 Sitharaman said gig workers will be provided healthcare facilities under the PM Jan Aarogya Yojana PMJAYFull exemption on 36 lifesaving medicines from customs dutyFinance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to fully exempt customs duty on 36 drugs used in the treatment of cancer rare diseases and other severe chronic diseases The government had earlier cut customs duties on Trastuzumab Deruxtecan Osimertinib and Durvalumab from 10 per cent to nil To provide relief to patients particularly those suffering from cancer rare diseases and other severe chronic diseases I propose to add 36 lifesaving drugs and medicines to the list of medicines fully exempted from Basic Customs Duty BCD Sitharaman said while presenting 8th consecutive Budget She also proposed to add six lifesaving medicines to the list attracting concessional customs duty of 5 per cent Full exemption and concessional duty will also respectively apply on the bulk drugs for the manufacture of the above Sitharaman statedInfra development Rs 15 lakh cr outlay for interestfree loans to statesRs 15 lakh crore will be provided towards 50year interestfree loans to states for infrastructure development Presenting Union Budget 202526 Sitharaman further said building on the success of the first asset monetization plan announced in 2021 the second plan for 202530 will be launched to plough back capital of Rs 10 lakh crore in new projectsMaritime Development Fund of Rs 25000 cr for longterm financingA Maritime Development Fund with a corpus of Rs 25000 crore will be set up for longterm financing for the maritime industry Presenting the Budget for 202526 Sitharaman said the amount will be used to support and promote competition This will have up to 49 per cent contribution by the government while the balance will be mobilised from ports and the private sectorFrom airport to makhana board FY26 Budget lines up schemes for pollbound BiharThe Union government on Saturday unveiled several bigticket plans for pollbound Bihar in the FY26 Budget which include setting up of a makahana board a greenfield airport as well as financial support for Western Koshi Canal Project in the Mithilanchal region of the state In the Union Budget 202526 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also announced the establishment of a National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management in Bihar and the expansion of hostel and other infrastructure capacity at IIT PatnaDuty exemptions on capital goods used in lithiumion battery productionFinance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to extend duty exemptions on capital goods used in the production of lithiumion batteries The move is aimed at aiding domestic manufacturing of lithiumion batteries a key component in electric vehicles and mobile phones To the list of exempted capital goods I propose to add 35 additional capital goods for EV battery manufacturing and 28 additional capital goods for mobile phone battery manufacturing she said This will boost domestic manufacture of lithiumion batteries both for mobile phones and electric vehicles the finance minister said while presenting her record 8th straight BudgetGovt announces SWAMIH Fund2 to complete 1 lakh homes in stalled projectsA fresh Rs 15000 crore SWAMIH Fund for completion of 1 lakh units in stalled housing projects a move aimed at providing relief to homebuyers whose investments are stuckTop 50 tourist destinations to be developed in partnership with statesThe top 50 tourist destinations in the country will be developed in partnership with states in a challenge mode as she emphasised tourism as a driver of employmentled growth and unveiled a series of initiatives aimed at bolstering infrastructure skill development and ease of travel Presenting her eighth straight Union Budget Sitharaman said the government will promote homestays by extending Mudra loans and improve connectivity to tourist spots to enhance accessibilityGovt announces modified UDAN schemeTo boost regional connectivity the government on Saturday announced a modified UDAN scheme to connect 120 new destinations that will help carry 4 crore passengers in the next 10 years Presenting the Union Budget for 202526 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also said greenfield airports will be facilitated in Bihar Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik UDAN the regional air connectivity scheme has so far connected 88 airports and has helped operationalise 619 routesGovt to rationalise TDS to ease compliance burdenFinance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the rationalisation of TDS Tax Deduction at Source regime to ease the compliance burden Presenting the Budget for 202526 she said tax proposals are guided by income tax reforms for the middle class TDS rationalisation and easing compliance burden The government will also be introducing a new Income Tax IT bill in Parliament next weekGovt to extend time limit for filing updated returns for any assessment yearThe government announced the extension of the time limit for filing updated returns for any assessment year The time limit is proposed to be extended from the current two years to four yearsGovt to create additional infra in five IITs set up after 2014 expand IIT PatnaThe government will create additional infrastructure in five Indian Institutes of Technology IITs and expand IIT Patna Sitharaman said the government will launch the Bharatiya Bhasha Pushtak scheme to provide digital forms of Indian language books for schools and higher educationKisan Credit Card interest subvention scheme limit to be raised to Rs 5 lakhTo further strengthen agricultural financing the government has announced enhancing the loan limit under the modified interest subvention MIS scheme from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh for loans taken through Kisan Credit Card KCCFiscal deficit target pegged at 4437 for 202526Presenting the Union Budget Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday pegged the fiscal deficit target at 44 per cent of GDP for the financial year 202526 For 202425 the fiscal deficit target has been revised from 49 per cent of gross domestic product GDP to 48 per cent In the Interim Budget tabled on February 1 last year the Finance Minister had pegged it at 51 per cent of GDP