Exemption of interest income for senior citizens increased, with TDS relief and enhanced health and critical illness deductions.
The budget increases the exemption of interest income on deposits for senior citizens and removes the TDS requirement for such interest, covering bank, post office, fixed and recurring deposits. It raises the cap on deductions for health insurance premiums and general medical expenditure for senior citizens and standardises a higher deduction limit for medical expenditure relating to critical illnesses. The government also extends the senior citizen assured-return scheme and raises its per-person investment ceiling, yielding a material tax benefit to senior citizens.

Standard deduction introduced replacing transport and medical exemptions, extending deductible relief to salaried taxpayers and pensioners.
A standard deduction of Rs. 40,000 is proposed in lieu of exemptions for transport allowance and miscellaneous medical reimbursements for salaried taxpayers and pensioners; enhanced transport allowance remains for differently abled persons and medical reimbursement for hospitalization continues.

National Health Protection Scheme provides government-funded secondary and tertiary hospitalisation cover for eligible poor and vulnerable families.
The document describes two Ayushman Bharat initiatives: Health and Wellness Centres to strengthen primary care with comprehensive services, free essential medicines and diagnostics and private adoption options; and the National Health Protection Scheme, a government-funded programme providing secondary and tertiary hospitalisation coverage to poor and vulnerable families, supported by funds for implementation and linked to upgradation of district hospitals into medical colleges.

Holistic education policy expands pre nursery to Class XII, boosting research initiatives and targeted tribal residential schools.
Holistic education policy extends from pre-nursery to Class XII with a district-wise quality improvement strategy and increased digitalisation. The RISE initiative channels central investment over four years into research and infrastructure in leading institutions, complemented by the PMRF scheme to support top B.Tech students into Ph.D. programmes and an integrated B.Ed. programme for in-service teacher training.

Unique enterprise ID to be assigned, enabling institutional reforms, insurance consolidation and market listings to improve public service delivery.
The Government will assign a unique identification to every enterprise, restructure Food Corporation of India capital to raise equity and long term debt, streamline budgeting for metro venture equity and debt, list 14 Central Public Sector Enterprises, merge three public sector general insurers into a single entity for subsequent listing, and formulate a comprehensive Gold Policy including regulated gold exchanges and a revamped Gold Monetization Scheme for hassle free gold deposit accounts.

Disinvestment strategy expands strategic sales and ETFs while reforms enable bank recapitalisation and liquidity instruments.
The Budget advances a major disinvestment programme including strategic sales and ETF capital raising, alongside a bank recapitalisation scheme to expand public sector bank lending. Proposed statutory amendments transfer National Housing Bank equity to the Government, consolidate small savings statutes, create an Uncollateralized Deposit Facility in the RBI Act for liquidity management, and amend securities and depositories laws to streamline adjudication and provide penalties.

Reduced corporate tax rate expanded to cover nearly all small companies, increasing their investible surplus under the new threshold.
A budgetary measure reduces the corporate tax rate to 25% for companies whose turnover did not exceed the prescribed threshold in the relevant financial year, extending the lower-rate bracket to the vast majority of filing companies while leaving only companies above the threshold in the higher-rate slab; the concession is presented with an estimated revenue forgone for the budget year.

MSME credit support and tax relief expand investible surplus, boosting formal employment and incentives for women employees.
The Budget allocates dedicated funds for MSME credit support, capital and interest subsidy and innovation, couples reduced corporate tax rates for smaller companies to boost investible surplus, and proposes linking TReDS to GSTN and revamping online loan sanctioning for faster bank decisions; it also reviews MUDRA refinancing eligibility to strengthen NBFC refinancing and lending.

Railway capital investment allocation advances network capacity, rolling stock procurement, station modernization, electrification and safety upgrades.
Railway capital expenditure for 2018-19 is directed to capacity creation and modernization through track expansion, gauge conversion to Broad Gauge, electrification commissioning, track renewal, and construction of Dedicated Freight Corridors. The plan includes procurement of wagons, coaches and locomotives, accelerated goods shed and private siding upgrades, station redevelopment across 600 major stations with escalators, wi-fi and CCTVs, elimination of unmanned level crossings, urban suburban network expansion, and establishment of an institute for high-speed rail manpower training.

Infrastructure allocation increase prioritises transport, urban development and digital infrastructure with financing and regulatory measures.
The Union Budget 2018 19 increases infrastructure allocation with priority funding for transport (highways, airports, regional connectivity), urban programmes (Smart Cities, AMRUT, HRIDAY, tourist and heritage upgrades), and digital and telecom infrastructure (expanded Digital India funding, Cyber Physical Systems mission, telecom augmentation, public wifi and BharatNet). Financing measures include leveraging specialized finance entities and monetisation structures like TOT and InvITs. The Budget also indicates regulatory aims to prevent crypto asset misuse and to explore blockchain for the digital economy.

Sanitation-driven waste-to-energy scheme launches to convert farm waste into compost and renewable fuels for rural benefit.
Launch of a national rural waste-to-resource initiative under GOBAR-DHAN to convert cattle dung and farm solid waste into compost, biogas and bio-CNG as a sanitation and resource-recovery mechanism supporting open-defecation-free objectives and rural energy and soil-health outcomes.

Rural livelihood funding expands to boost employment, rural infrastructure and assured irrigation in deprived districts.
A consolidated rural development expenditure of Rs.14.34 lakh crore for 2018-19 is proposed to create livelihood and infrastructure in rural areas, delivering employment, rural roads, new houses, toilets and household electricity while boosting agricultural growth. Complementary allocations increase funding for the National Rural Livelihood Mission to expand credit and support to women Self Help Groups, and dedicate resources under the Prime Minister Krishi Sinchai Yojna to strengthen groundwater irrigation and provide assured irrigation in deprived districts.

Tax incentive for Farmer Producer Companies encourages post-harvest value addition by permitting a time-limited profit deduction.
A time-limited tax incentive permits hundred per cent deduction of profits from post-harvest activities for companies registered as Farmer Producer Companies that meet the specified turnover eligibility, applicable for five years from the stated financial year to encourage professionalism in post-harvest value addition.

Direct Benefit Transfer advances targeted social assistance and digital delivery to reduce intermediaries and improve public service transparency.
The Budget prioritizes targeted social assistance delivered through digital mechanisms and the Direct Benefit Transfer model to reach farmers, the poor and vulnerable while consolidating structural reforms-GST, digitization post-demonetization, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, bank recapitalization and state-level ease-of-doing-business measures-to strengthen growth and improve public service transparency, including use of Aadhaar and proposals for a unique enterprise identifier.

Minimum Support Price guarantee for unannounced Kharif crops paired with credit, market and processing reforms to boost farm income.
Minimum Support Price (MSP) for all previously unannounced Kharif crops is set at not less than one and a half times production cost, with NITI Aayog to devise a mechanism to ensure adequate prices. Complementary measures include increased institutional agricultural credit, Operation Greens to stabilise perishable commodity prices through FPO promotion and processing, extension of Kisan Credit Cards to fisheries and animal husbandry, allocation for food processing and Farmer Producer Company incentives, development of 22,000 rural haats into Gramin Agricultural Markets linked to e-NAM, and an Agri Market Infrastructure Fund to upgrade markets.

Long Term Capital Gains tax on listed equity introduced, bringing certain equity gains into the tax net with grandfathering protections.
The Budget sets a fiscal consolidation path while introducing targeted tax and compliance measures: extension of reduced corporate rates to more companies, standard deduction and senior citizen tax concessions, introduction of a modest tax on long term capital gains from listed equity with grandfathering, 100% deduction for Farmer Producer Companies on eligible profits, disallowance of large cash payments by trusts and strengthened TDS consequences, and expansion of e-assessment to enhance transparency. Concurrently it increases allocations for health, education and rural infrastructure and announces sectoral funds and market reforms to boost agricultural credit, marketing and value addition.

Budget introduces tax on long term gains, 10% mutual fund distribution tax, expanded health protection and infrastructure push.
Tax and fiscal measures include a glide path fiscal deficit target, a 10 percent tax on long term capital gains above a specified threshold without indexation, proposed tax on distributed income of equity mutual funds, extension of reduced corporate tax eligibility, sectoral employment incentives via relaxed employment linked deductions, increase in cess on personal and corporate income, roll out of E assessment nationwide, customs duty changes to incentivise domestic value addition, and disallowance of deductions for large cash payments by trusts and institutions.

Budget 2018-19: MSP uplift, e market reforms, Ayushman Bharat rollout, fiscal consolidation and tax changes including LTCG levy.
The Budget 2018-19 advances sectoral reforms and funding to strengthen agriculture and rural markets (MSP at one-and-a-half times cost for kharif crops; e NAM expansion; GrAMs; Agri Market Infrastructure Fund; FAIDF and AHIDF), launches major health initiatives under Ayushman Bharat (Health and Wellness Centres and a National Health Protection Scheme with comprehensive secondary/tertiary coverage), and implements fiscal and tax measures including acceptance of debt and fiscal rules, extension of a reduced corporate tax slab to more companies, standard deduction for salaried taxpayers, restrictions on cash payments by trusts, nationwide e assessment, and taxation of long term capital gains from listed equities with grandfathering and a new 10% rate.

Agricultural export liberalisation to boost commodity shipments through policy reforms, food park infrastructure and traceability measures.
The government will liberalise agricultural exports and pursue a comprehensive export policy including logistics facilitation, certification and traceability, and identification of high-demand foreign markets. As part of this effort it will establish state-of-the-art facilities in 42 mega food parks to strengthen infrastructure and support shipments of major agri commodities such as tea, coffee, rice, spices, cashew, oilseeds and marine products, addressing recent negative growth in several categories.

Market reaction to Budget: benchmark indices rose while institutional investors sold, tracking global market cues after presentation
Market reaction to the Union Budget 2018-19 saw the BSE Sensex and Nifty rise, led by buying in capital goods, industrials, realty, banking and consumer sectors while metal, consumer durables and telecom experienced profit-booking. Institutional flows were negative, with foreign portfolio investors and domestic institutional investors registering net sales, and international cues including the US Federal Reserve's rate decision influencing Asian markets.