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The 3% excise duty hike on SUVs in India, announced during the union budget on Thursday, may spell the end of the purple patch the segment has been going through, while spelling hope for the beleaguered sedan segment.
Sumant Banerji reports.
Cars Vs SUVs: percentage growth
Major car manufacturers posted dismal sales in February, indicating that customers were neither lured by temptations of purchasing cars before the budget to beat any possible excise duty hike, nor by the generous discounts on offer.
HT reports.
The sales chart: gloomy winterThe real estate incentives announced in Thursday's Budget will not only be of no use to homebuyers in Mumbai, but will also create more problems as the houses will cost more due to 1% tax on transfer of property, say experts. To make matters worse, even the service tax on sale of houses costing above Rs. 1 crore will increase.
If you are in the market for a sports utility vehicle, get ready to dig deep into your pockets. The government on Thursday increased the excise duty on sports utility vehicles from 27% to 30%, which will mean a price rise ranging from
Rs. 15,000 for a no-frills Mahindra Bolero, to up to
Rs. 75,000 for a Toyota Fortuner.
HT reports.
The Rs. 37,330 crore budget allocation to the ministry of health and family welfare is making several public health experts question the UPA's commitment to 'health for all', which ambitiously plans to offer universal health coverage for all during 12th five-year plan (2012-2017) .
The central spending to counter internal security challenges is set to cross the Rs. 50,000 crore-mark over the next one year, twice of what was being spent in 2008 when terrorists struck Mumbai.
In 2009, when India faced its worst drought in three decades, the country managed to produce a million more tonne of foodgrains than it did in 2007, a normal year. That's both an achievement and a failure.
Zia Haq reports.
Kitchen economics In its less-than-impressive fight against malnourishment, India is all set to try out a new strategy by investing Rs. 200 crore on nutrifarms to grow super nutritious or 'bio-fortified' crops. HT reports.
Finance minister P Chidambaram spared agricultural commodities traded in the futures market of a new commodity transaction tax, which could have pushed food inflation levels higher. HT reports.
The government's target of raising about Rs. 40,000 crore from the sale of telecom spectrum during the current financial year has fallen flat.
Finance minister P Chidambaram announced the launch of the National Livestock Mission in 2013-14 to support poultry, dairy farming and fisheries, which are critical for small farmers to keep earnings going and in case crops fail. HT reports.
Finance minister P Chidambaram has kept funds for spurring a "second revolution" in eastern states unchanged at
Rs. 1,000 crore, but Budget 2013-14 has pledged additional funds for an urgent need to make farmers grow more diverse crops, rather than just staples.
Food EconomicsFinance minister P Chidambaram said the cabinet would look into the Rs. 11,200 crore Vodafone tax case involving retrospective taxation to take a final decision on its settlement and whether there should be any conciliation.
The government is out to boost the making of microchips in India by encouraging high-technology electronic manufacturing in the country.
In an attempt to curb tax evasion through under-valuation and concealment of information in property purchase and sales, the budget has proposed a tax deduction at source (TDS) of one per cent on all transfers of immovable properties involving transactions of over Rs. 50 lakh.