Interim Budget: No Change in Taxation, Rs 1 Lakh Cr Loan for Private Sector

New Delhi: In her Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, “I do not propose any changes in tax rates in direct and indirect taxes including import duties.”

According to her, in order to boost the private sector research in sunrise sectors, the government had decided to provide long-term loans of Rs 1 lakh crore at minimal or zero interest rates.

“A corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore with 50-year interest-free loans will provide long-term financing at low or nil interest rates for the private sector to scale up research in sunrise sectors,” she announced.

Sitharaman said that infrastructure spending has increased by 11.1 per cent to Rs 11.11 lakh crore as compared to 10 lakh crore in last year.