The Indian Budget 2009 or India's budget for 2009 announced on 6th July , 2009. All Indians are hoping the budget as special as the year and the date.

Railway Budget 2009 Highlights

India Interim Budget 2009 Highlights

Union Budget 2009 Highlights

1. Total budget expenditure for 2009-10 will be Rs 10,28,032 cr
2. Plan expenditure, for both Centre and States, to go up by
Rs 61,000 cr
3. Fiscal deficit in 2009-10 is proposed at 6.8 per cent of GDP
4. Higher public investment in infrastructure
5.Goods and Services Tax to be introduced from April 1, 2010
6. Defence outlay goes up
7. Total fiscal stimulus for 2009-09 amounts to Rs 1,86,000 cr
8. Strengthen the delivery mechanism for healthcare
9. Increase investment in infrastructure
10. Mandate for inclusive growth
11. Re-energise government and re institutionalise development
12. Challenege before UPA to return to 9 per cent growth
13. Aim to create 12 million jobs
14. Economic growth is a synergy of states and Centre
15. Integration of Indian economy with rest of the world
16. Significant hike in foreign capital
17. Govt took 3 stimulus packages to fight slowdown
18. Two worst quarters since September slowdown behind us
19. Signs of revival in the domestic industry
20. Fiscal stimulus gave economy a boost
21. New company IIFCL to look at infrastructure needs
22. IIFCL will also look at incremental lending by banks
23. GDP grew at 6.7 per cent
24. JNNURM allocation hiked by 87 per cent
25. Hike infrastructure investment to over 9% of GDP by 2014
26. Fund allocation for urban poor accommodation is 3,973,000 cr
27. Hike in allocation for Mumbai flood management
28. JNNURM allocation hiked by 87 per cent
29. NHAI allocation up by 23 per cent
30. IIFCL will also look at incremental lending by banks
31. New company IIFCL to look at infrastructure needs
32. Additional budget allocation to farmers
33. FIIs have returned to India in last few months
34. Target for agriculture credit raised to Rs 3,25,000 cr in 2009-10
35. Pranab Mukherjee quotes Kautilya in Budget speech
36. Export Credit Guarantee scheme extended till March 2010
37. Incentives in interest rates to farmers to pay back
38. An expert group will look into petroleum product pricing
39. Saral-II forms to simplify taxation process
40. Move towards energy security via Integrated Energy Act
41. Raise threshold for non-promoter public listed companies
42. Banking network to be expanded
43. NREGA gave employment opportunities to more than 4.479 cr households
44. Stimulus for print media extended till December 2009
45. Rs 39,100 crore allocation for NREGA
46. Indira Awaas Yojna hiked by 63% to Rs 8,883 cr, up 144 per cent
47. Rs 100 cr one-time grant to expand banks in 'unbanking' areas
48. Work on National Food Security scheme for subsidised food
49. Families below the poverty line will be entitled to 25 kg of rice or wheat per month at Rs 3 per kg
50. Rs 100 crore for pilot scheme for development of SC-dominated villages.
51. Aim to bring 50 per cent of all rural women under women’s self-help groups in five years and link them to banks.
52. Aim to reduce female illiteracy by half. The scheme will focus on the minorities, SCs, STs and other marginalised groups.
53. One rank, one pension for ex-servicemen from July 1
54. Interest subsidy for home loans up to Rs 1 lakh
55. Rs 2,000 cr for rural housing fund under National Housing Bank
56. Commonwealth Games allocation hiked to Rs 16,300 cr
57. Rs 2,113 cr for IITs and NITs
58. Pension of non-commissioned officers to be hiked
59. Rs 25 cr each for AMU campuses in Murshidabad and Mallapuram
60. Rs 1,000 cr for Aila rehabilitation programme to West Bengal
61. Funds for GSI to enhance exploration of minerals
62. IIFCL will refinance 60% of commercial bank loans in PPP
63. Housing allocation hiked under Rajiv Awaas Yojana
64. Trade in goods and services doubled in 2009

Highlights Of The Railway Budget 2009

1. No increase in freight rates
2. No increase in passenger fares
3. Tatkal charges go down to Rs 100, booking time reduced from 5 days to 2 days
4. Unreserved ticketing systems to be expanded from 5,000 to 8,000 terminals
5. Junta khana (peoples’ food) to be provided in railway stations
6. Develop 50 stations with world class amenities : The problem with these kind of announcements is that you never know when and how well these will be executed. Having said that atleast half should see the light of the day which is a good news
7. 12 new non-stop Turant point to point trains introduced : This will really affect negatively the already sagging Indian airline sector.
8. ATMs on 200 mid and small sized stations
9. Aim for 1300 km gauge conversion by 2010
10. AC double decker trains for inter-city travel
11. Railway Finance Corp to borrow Rs 9000 crore in FY 2010 : I don’t like Railways borrowing from the government, instead raise money either through IPO
12. Madrasa students included in concession scheme
13. To set-up North Eastern development funds
14. Ladies special trains to be introduced in Kolkata, Chennai and Delhi
15. Kolkata Metro to be expanded
16. Increased Budgetary support by Rs 5000 crores
17. AC ‘Yuva’ trains at Rs 299 and Rs 399 to be introduced : Excellent, excellent move, one of my favourites of this budget
18. Press correspondents to get 50% concession
19. To launch 57 new trains
20. Non-stop AC ‘Turant’ trains to connect major metros
21. Rs 25 ticket for those with monthly salary under Rs 1000 under the ‘Izzat scheme’ : Another big hit !
22. Ladies special trains during peak hours
23. To use Railway Land Bank for industrial development
24. To set up a new coach factory in Kanchrapara
25. Computerised tickets from post offices
26. 3000 more unreserved ticketing terminals
27. At least one doctor on long distance train
28. Railways to set up cold storage cargoes
29. Mega logistics hubs in Eastern and Western corridor
30. Launch of premium faster parcel services in three routes
31. Aim to fulfill SC/ST backlog in jobs
32. 18,000 wagons to be acquired by FY 2010
33. Railway hospitals to be upgraded
34. Commando battalion to be raised for security purposes
35. Integrated security schemes for 130 vulnerable stations
36. Railway recruitment board to be reviewed shortly
37. 7 nursing colleges to be set up on railway land
38. Environmental friendly toilets on trains
39. 49 stations of religious importance to be upgraded
40. Automatic vending machines to be set up at stations
41. Women commandos to employed for the security of women passengers
42. High-capacity double decker AC coaches on the cards
43. Automatic vending vans to be set up to make ticketing easy
44. Computerised ticketing from post offices
45. SMS update on waitlisted tickets
46. Tickets can be bought from Post Offices
47. Automatic train information systems on major cities
48. Specially designed coaches, escalators and elevators for the physically challenged
49. Depute doctors on long distance trains
50. Book stores, PCOs to be set up across stations
51. Infotainment services on Rajhandi and Shatabdi trains
52. To take the Private-Public partnership route to develop stations : An extremely important announcement, if it could be implemented properly
53. Priority for food and water on trains
54. Developing multi-functional complexes at stations
55. Priority to passenger amenities
56. To set up panel for financing unavailable rail projects
57. Improvement of trains amenities
58. More Garib Rath trains to be introduced
59. Measures to improve catering and on-board decoration
60. Special announcement for security on railways