Highlights from Railway Budget 2014-15

Union Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda presented his first Railway Budget in Parliament. Below
are the highlights of this Budget:
High Speed rail network and Bullet trains:
Bullet trains will be introduced in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector.
Diamond Quadrilateral network of high speed rail linking major metros and growth centers is being
worked out. The government needs Rs 9 lakh crore for funding Diamond Quadrilateral for which
FDI will be sought. Rs. 100 crore have been earmarked for initiating the project
Increasing train speeds between several cities to 160-200 km/hour.
Railways will spend Rs 100 crore for high speed trains between metros.
Revamp of Ticket reservation system:
Next generation e-Ticketing system, capable of supporting 7200 tickets per minute
Ticket booking through mobile phones and through post Offices
purchasing platform tickets and unreserved tickets Online.
Parking-cum-Platform Combo Tickets to facilitate the passengers and to save their time.
Online booking facility of railway retiring room will be extended to all the stations during the course
of the year.
Improve catering and food:
Introduce pre-cooked (Ready-to-eat) meals of reputed brands
Quality Assurance Mechanism through Third Party Audit.
A system of receiving feedback through IVRS mechanism, from the travelling passengers.
Food courts at major stations to offer the option of ordering regional food while onboard, through
emails, SMS and smart phones, etc. The railways will soon to launch a pilot project between New
Delhi-Amritsar and New Delhi-Jammu Tawi sections.
Global Standard Stations:
Railway Ministry will develop 10 major stations in the country to global standards.
provide Wi-Fi in A-1 and A category stations and in select trains.
Cleaning activities will be outsourced at some stations.
The allocated budget for cleaniness has been raised by 40%.
The number of Bio-toilets will be increased on trains.
CCTVs to be used at stations for monitoring cleanliness
Forming a corpus fund for stations maintenance
RO drinking water at some stations and trains
58 new trains, 11 existing trains extended:
Special trains to meet the holiday and festival rush would continue to operate.
Improving Safety:
Ultra sonic devices to detect rail fractures
automatic closing of doors
Ladies coaches will be escorted by 4000 women RPF.
Special instructions are being issued in each class of travel for the safety of ladies travelling alone.
Boundary walls will be constructed around stations through the PPP way.
Workstations on Wheels:
With a view to provide better facilities to business travelers, Indian Railways will provide
workstations in select trains on payment basis.
To start with, railways will provide Mobile based Wakeup Call System, Destination Arrival Alert, and
Station Navigation Information System
Trains dedicated to Tourism:
Promoting Eco-tourism and education tourism in North Eastern States.
Special Pilgrim Circuits like Jain Circuit, Christian Circuit, Muslim Circuit, Sikh Circuit, Famous Temple
Circuit have been identified
Other features of rail budget
Battery powered Cars for differently-abled and senior citizens at major stations
Cabinet approval sought to allow FDI in FDI in railway projects, except in operations

Railways university for technical and non-technical subjects

Parcel traffic to be segregated to separate terminals to make passenger traffic unhampered
Use of Solar energy at major stations
Expenditure in 2014-15 pegged at Rs. 150,000 crore and receipts at 165000 crore
Increase in fares done earlier would help Railways net only Rs. 8,000 crores more a year. Rs. 600
crore revenue has foregone owing to partial rollback for Mumbai trains
Additional stops for trains would be tired out for three months and alternatives explored if the
demand was not much.
Simulation Centre to study causes of accidents
Coin- operated Automatic ticket Vending Machines.
The annual plan outlay has been kept at Rs. 47,650 crore,
The freight traffic target for the current year has been set at 1,100 million tonnes.
Railway would continue use fuel adjustment component (FAC) to revise passenger fares every six
months.
Special train featuring life and work of Swami Vivekananda.
Budget 2014-15
Budget statistics
Government expects Rs 9.77 lakh crore revenue from taxes (17% growth).
Plan expenditure pegged at Rs 5.75 lakh crore (27% increase) and non-plan at Rs 12.19 lakh crore
Fiscal deficit target maintained at 4.1% of GDP for current fiscal and 3.4% for FY 2015-2016 and 3%
for FY 2016-2017
GDP growth in 2014/15 estimated at 5.4-5.9 per cent year-on-year
Aim to achieve 7-8 per cent economic growth rate in next 3-4 years: FM
Govt expenditure as percentage of GDP is 13.9%
Gross tax to GDP ratio is 10.6%
Sources of money for govt are
o Borrowing and other liabilities 24%
o Corporation tax 21%
o Income tax 13%
o Service and other taxes 10%
Spending of the govt (rupee outgo) are:
o Interest payment 20%
o Plan assistance to states and UTs 15%
o Subsidies 12%
o Central plan 11%
o Defence 10%
Individual tax payers
No change in the Tax slab on personal income
Income tax exemption limit increased by Rs 50,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh and for senior citizens (more than
60 years) to Rs 3 lakh
Exemption limit for investment in financial instruments under 80C increased to Rs 1.5 lakh from Rs
1 lakh.
Investment limit in PPF increased to Rs 1.5 lakh from Rs 1 lac
Deduction limit on interest on loan for self-occupied house enhanced to Rs 2 lakh from Rs 1.5 lakh.
National Savings Certificate with insurance cover to be launched
Economic Measures
Composite cap of foreign investment to be increased to 49% in Defence and Insurance sectors
through FIPB (foreign investment promotion board) route with full Indian management control.
Rs 11,200 crore for PSU banks capitalization
Disinvestment target fixed at Rs 58,425 crore
Easier KYC norms
Inter-usability of KYC records across financial sector
One single operating Demat account where investor can access and transact all financial assets

FY 2016-17 is the deadline for companies to adopt Indian accounting standards

Configuration of GST to be finalized this fiscal
Government to examine DTC proposal.
CBDT Panel to examine all fresh tax demands for indirect transfer of assets in wake of retrospective
tax amendments of 2012
Slum development to be included in the list of Corporate Social Responsibility
CSR not to be treated as business expense
To provide support to mainstreaming PPPPs (People Public Private Partnership) called 4PIndia, an
institution will be established with a corpus of Rs. 500 crores.
Rs. 500 crore for price stabilization fund to tackle inflation
Mutual fund earnings are subject to capital gain and not income tax. Long term capial gain tax for
debt mutual funds doubled to 20% to bring it at par with other debt instruments and bank deposits;
lock-in period increased to 3 years
Dividend distribution tax will be paid by the individual and not company
International settlement of Indian depository receipts.
IDRs will be replaced by Bharat depository receipts
Freeing infrastructure lending from constraints of reserve requirement (no CRR or SLR)
REIT (Real Estate investment trusts)
o Those listed on stock exchange will get same tax treatment as equity shares i.e. STT will
apply, short term gain taxed at 15% and long term gain exempted.
Biomedical waste treatment plants exempted from service tax
Base of Service tax has been increased by including radio cab services and sale of space/time in
online and out of home media
10000 crores fund for startups
Income of fund managers will be treated as capital gain and not as business income
Fresh taxes /Tax rebates
Computers, e-readers, LED TV, footwear and diamonds become less expensive
Sin tax on Cigarettes and tobacco increased from 12% to 72%.
Tax on pan masala also increased
aerated drinks become costlier
Agriculture
Soil health cards to farmers:
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojna has been provided Rs 1000 crore.
Committed for growth of agriculture at the rate of 4 per cent.
Setting up of Expenditure Management Commission; will look into food and fertilizer subsides
Formulation of New Urea Policy
Restructuring FCI
Protein revolution in farm sector
Technology driven second green revolution
Agriculture credit availability will be 8 lakh crore
Farmers who make prompt payment will be given loan at 4% (3% less)
Food subsidy allocation increased to 1.15 lakh crore
Education
Allocation: 55000 crores
5 IIMs to be opened
5 IITs to be opened
Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya teachers training programme gets 500 crores
Energy
Government is committed to providing 24x7 electricity in all houses in rural areas under Deen Dyal
Upadhaya Gram Jyoti Yojna at a cost of 500 crores
Environment and sanitation
Jal Marg Vikas a project on the river Ganga for inland waterways between Allahabad and Haldia;
Project Neeranchal will be launched to give fillip to watershed development in the country.

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to cover every household with sanitation facility by the year 2019 at a cost
of 1000 crore

Health

4 more AIIMS like institutions

Achieving Health For All objective through Free Drug Service and Free Diagnotic Service
Universal access to early quality diagnosis and treatment of TB patients
Two National Institutes of Ageing to be established at AIIMS, New Delhi and Madras Medical
College, Chennai.
Infrastructure
Rs. 7,000 crore allocated for the project of developing 100 Smart Cities.
Rs. 14,300 crores for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana
Pensioners
Mandatory wage ceiling of subscription to EPS (Employee Pension Scheme) enhanced from Rs 6,500
to Rs 15,000
Minimum pension raised to Rs 1,000 per month
Uniform Account Number service will be launched by EPFO for contributing members. This will
allow portability of PF account.
A panel will look into and recommend how unclaimed amounts with PPF, Post Office, saving
schemes etc. can be utilized to protect and further financial interests of the senior citizens
Senior Citizens Pension Plan (Varishtha pension Bima Yojana)
Rural india
Budget for rural development = 83000 crore

Digital India programme will be launched to ensure broad band connectivity at village level
Rural housing: Rs 4000 crore for national housing bank
National rural livelihood mission will be extended to 100 more districts
Shyama Prasad Mukerjee Rurban mission to deliver project based infrastructure in rural areas using
PPP model based on Gujarat model
Social sector
Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana to spread awareness and help in improving the efficiency of
delivery of welfare services meant for women allocated 100 crores
Rs 150 crore for enhancing safety of women in large cities
Outlay of Rs. 50 crores for a pilot scheme on safety of women in public road transport
Crisis Management Center for women at Delhi
Rs. 50,000 crore under the SC Plan and Rs. 32,000 crore under TSP
MGNREGA would provide more productive, asset creating wage employment with linkages to
agriculture. Allocation is same as in interim budget i.e. 33000 crore
Currency note with Braille-like signs to be introduced
Rs. 200 crore for Statue of Unity, a statue of Sardar Patel in Gujarat.
o 182 meters long
o Double the size of statue of liberty
o To be constructed on narmada river near Bharuch in Gujarat
o Will face Sardar Sarovar Dam
o Total cost = 2500 crore
o Will be tallest structure in the world
Tourism
e-visa for nine airports for promoting tourism
higher baggage allowance for travel abroad ( increased from Rs 35000 to Rs 45000)
creation of 5 tourism circuits
Note:
28 schemes have been announced, each with an allocation of 100 crores. Some of these are
o Van Bandhu kalian Yojana
o Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana