Analysis of Budget 2020 presented by FM Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman: We have estimated nominal growth of GDP for the year 2020-21 on the trends available, at 10%.

Nominal growth projection for 20-21 at 10%. Very conservative. Lowest in a decade I think

— sukumar ranganathan (@HT_Ed) February 1, 2020

FM announces government will sell part of its stake in LIC as IPO.

Part of LIC stake to be sold as IPO. Will probably be biggest share sale of the year whenever it happens.

— sukumar ranganathan (@HT_Ed) February 1, 2020

National Recruitment Agency to be set up for conducting common online eligibility tests for recruitment to non- gazetted posts: FM

Deposit insurance for depositors increased to ₹5 lakh from ₹1 lakh.

Deposit insurance coverage quintupled from 1 lakh to 5 lakh. Really big change given PMC, etc

— sukumar ranganathan (@HT_Ed) February 1, 2020

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman: Robust mechanism is in place to monitor health of all schedule commercial banks and depositors money is absolutely safe.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman: Government is fully committed to supporting new UTs of J&K and Ladakh; Allocation of ₹30,757 crores for 2020-21 for Jammu and Kashmir and ₹5,958 crores for Ladakh

Govt proposes amendments in Companies Act to decriminalise civil offences, says FM.

A taxpayer charter will be part of the budget. Freedom from harassment, amendments in companies act and other laws to ensure some civil offenses (many finance related ones are) aren’t treated as criminal ones.

Wealth creators will be respected in this country says FM.

— sukumar ranganathan (@HT_Ed) February 1, 2020

Clean air is a matter of concern in large cities, propose to encourage states to formulate and implement plans to ensure clean air. Allocation for this purpose is ₹4,400 crores, says FM.

HT Editor Sukumar Ranganathan says this will probably span ministries and may include some sops for utilities replacing old thermal power plants.

Clean air; focus on cities with a population in excess of a million; allocation of 4400 Crore. Will probably span ministries and may include some sops for utilities replacing old thermal power plants, but last year the allocation for a Clean Air scheme was only 460 Crore. BIG

— sukumar ranganathan (@HT_Ed) February 1, 2020

Finance Minister proposes ₹35,600 crores for nutrition programme in FY 2020-21. ₹28,600 crores for women-specific programmes

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman: 'Beti bachao, beti padhao' has yielded tremendous results, gross enrolment ratio of girls across all levels of education now higher than boys.

FM Nirmala Sitharaman announces an allocation of ₹8, 000 Crore over five years on a national mission for quantum technology, says HT Editor Sukumar Ranganathan.

There has been some buzz about a national mission for quantum technology . This is high-science. Budget says will spend 8000 Crore over five years on this . Quantum tech can help in higher order communication and computing and also cryptography

— sukumar ranganathan (@HT_Ed) February 1, 2020

Budget allocations by FM Nirmala Sitharaman so far:

Healthcare - ₹ 69,000 crore

Education – ₹ 99,300 crore

Skill development – ₹3,000 crore

Swachh Bharat Mission - ₹ 12,300 crore

Transport infra - ₹1.7 lakh crores

Power and renewable energy – ₹22,000 crore

The Bengaluru Suburban Rail project gets a new lease of life ,says HT Editor Sukumar Ranganathan. The budget says the Centre will provide 20% equity of the 18,000-odd Crore project.

The Bengaluru Suburban Rail project gets a new lease of life. The budget says the Centre will provide 20% equity of the 18000-odd Crore project. Has seemed jinxed so far, but the city desperately needs it

— sukumar ranganathan (@HT_Ed) February 1, 2020