New Delhi: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee made a tight rope dance of a circus artiste today while presenting his 6th Budget, for UPA at the Centre for 2011-12.  But people were more interested in his tax policy as he was exempted to give relief to middle classes in income matters, as prices had pressed them hard and gone overboard even in daily necessity items like vegetables and milk. The FM from Bengal did mention tax reliefs after 80 minutes of his Budget speech today for 2011-12 in the Lok Sabha.
Income-tax minimum limit is raised to Rs.1.80 lakh on year or about Rs.15,000 per month. Mukherjee stated the outset that economy was bouncing back while industry regained the control of ground it lost, and that a double-digit service growth was expected soon. Economy, he prophesied, was growing to 9% in 2011-12. There was bumper crop in agriculture and boom in economy.
The Central govt had as challenges during the coming financial year, corruption high prices of necessities and credit inflation. The present Budget he saw as a precursor to a more demanding management system seeking results.
It was a transition, a forward movement, to a more transparent economic system, result-oriented. The information would be kept low in 2011-12, he said.
A Goods and Service Tax regime would be inaugurated in April onwards. Subsidies and a sense of policy paralysis had been a drag on economy of late, he mentioned.
He announced farm loans at an interest rate of less than 4% below market rates, to farmers who paid their dues. Credit target for farmers has been raised to Rs.4, 75,000 crores in the coming year.
Banks were asked to lend to farmers of small and medium sales, to get over imports of edible oil and pulses. He announced schemes for production of vegetables, pulses, oil seeds, nutrition-rich crops (like millets and maize) and cattle fodder to help farmers.