Interim finance minister Piyush Goyal arrives in Parliament to present the interim Budget in New Delhi on February 1. “Farmer support cost us Rs 20,000 crore this year and will cost Rs 75,000 crore next year,” Goyal told Parliament. The TDS threshold on rental income has been boosted to Rs 2.4 lakh from Rs 1.8 lakh. The interim budget has assumed critical importance for the ruling BJP after it lost control of three states in elections last month. Goyal said the defence budget would be hiked to more than Rs 3 lakh crore in 2019-20 while the railways will get Rs 1.6 lakh crore for capital expenditure.

Source: The Telegraph February 01, 2019 12:22 UTC