Union Budget 2020: Here are sector-wise highlights of Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Presenting the Union Budget for 2020-21, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, In May 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a massive mandate to form the government again. People of India have unequivocally given their janaadesh for not just political stability, but have also reposed their faith in our economic policy. This is a budget to boost their income and enhance their purchasing power.
Here are the highlights of this years budget:

Income	Tax
0 - 5 lakh	0% (No tax Exemption)
5 - 7.5 lakh	Reduced to 10% from the current 20%
7.5 - 10 lakh	Reduced to 15% from the current 20%
10 - 12.5 lakh	Reduced to 20% from the current 30%
12.5 - 15 lakh	Reduced to 25% from the current 30%
Above 15 lakh	Continue at 30%, but without exemptions

NOTE:
Over 70 deductions have been removed.
Companies will no longer be required to pay Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT).
Aadhaar-based verification for GST compliance to be introduced.

Here is a short list of winners and losers sectors from Saturday budget announcements.

Winners

Transport Infrastructure: Sitharaman unveiled plans for Indias highways and railways, proposing Rs 1.7 trillion ($23.7 billion) for transport infrastructure that includes the accelerated development of highways and plans to monetize 12 lots of highway bundles.
Key infrastructure players like Larson and Toubro and KNR Constructions and IRB Infra look set to benefit.

Electronics Manufacturing: The government plan to encourage the manufacture of mobile phones, electronic equipment, and semiconductor manufacturing as well as medical devices will be positive for companies such as Dixon Technologies, Amber Enterprises, Subros, said Vinay Pandit, Head of Institutional Equities at IndiaNivesh.

Rural India: The farm and rural sectors were allocated Rs 2.83 trillion, while the agriculture credit target for next year is set at Rs 15 trillion.
News of the government proposal to expand fisheries and create 500 fish farmer producer organizations saw gains in Avanti Feeds, Apex Frozen Foods and Waterbase.
The minister announced that the rail service will be equipped with air conditioned freight cars and the government will provide viability gap funding for warehousing. Container Corporation of India Ltd is set to be the biggest winner off the move.
The Fast Moving Consumer Goods Index rallied, while Emami, Hindustan Unilever, Dabur, Tata Global are set to rally further.

Water: Sitharaman announced measures to help farm sector growth in water-stressed districts, helping to boost the shares of VA Tech Wabag Ltd, which designs and builds water and sewage treatment plants.
Shakti Pumps India Ltd jumped the most in three-weeks on proposals to help farmers set-up standalone solar pumps to allow them to make a living out of their barren land.
The plan to provide piped water across Indian households by 2024 - with Rs 3.6 trillion in funding -- means Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd, KSB Ltd, Kirloskar Brothers Ltd., JK Agri Genetics Ltd., PI Industries Ltd. could benefit.
The minister also announced Rs 123 billion for the Clean India mission. Companies including Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Procter and Gamble, Godrej stand to gain here.

Telcos: The government is also further developing Bharat Net -- or Bharat Broadband Network Ltd. -- a program to bring broadband to villages. The government plans to provide Rs 60 billion for the project in the next fiscal year.
Reliance Industries and HFCL Ltd. stand to benefit.

Online Educators: Education received significant attention in Sitharamans budget speech, with the sector receiving Rs 993 billion in 2020-21.
The establishment of degree-level, fully-fledged online education programs to be offered by institutions that are ranked within the nation top 100 will see online educators like National Institute of Information Technology and MT Educare benefit.

IT Firms: The announcement of a policy to allow the private sector to build data center parks has the potential to benefit all IT firms, including TCS, , Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, along with mid-sized firms like LTI, Mindtree, Persistent and Hexaware.
Adani Enterprises also stands to benefit from this development.

Pipeline&City Gas Suppliers : India plans to expand its national gas grid to 27,000 kilometers from 16,200 kilometers.
Pipeline suppliers such as Welspun Corp., Maharashtra Seamless Ltd., Ratnamani Metals&Tubes Ltd., Jindal Saw, and Man Industries India Ltd. stand to benefit. Expanding the national gas grid is also positive for positive for companies such as IGL, MGL, and Gujarat Gas.

Losers

Insurance: The government plan to sell a part stake in Life Insurance Corp. triggered declines in shares of private insurers, which were star performers in 2019. SBI Life Insurance Co. fell, as did HDFC Life Insurance Co. and Nippon Life India Asset Management Ltd.

State-Run Banks: The finance minister stayed silent on infusing new capital into state-run banks for 2020-21. If the government does not inject fresh capital, it would be the first under Modis five years in power.

What is Coronavirus?

Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). A novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans.

Symptoms of Coronavirus

Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, and cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.

Cause of Coronavirus

Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people. Detailed investigations found that SARS-CoV was transmitted from civet cats to humans and MERS-CoV from dromedary camels to humans. Several known coronaviruses are circulating in animals that have not yet infected humans.

Prevention of Coronavirus

Standard recommendations to prevent infection spread include regular hand washing, covering mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, thoroughly cooking meat and eggs.
Avoid close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing.

Coronavirus in India

Meanwhile in India, one student who returned from Wuhan has been tested positive in Kerala and has been kept in isolation. Kerala health minister said that the condition of a female medical college student from Wuhan University, who has been tested positive for the virus, is stable and she will remain in the isolation ward of the general hospital in Thrissur.
According to media reports, one Tripura student has died in Malaysia due to Coronavirus infection. India may conduct evacuation of its stranded citizen from Wuhan on Friday. Two Air India planes are on stand-by for the mission. A number of isolation wards have been created. India has also established contact with over 600 Indians who are living across Hubei province in China and are individually ascertaining their situation.

Coronavirus in China

China?s novel coronavirus outbreak has taken 213 lives and the number of confirmed cases have risen to 9,692, according to Chinese authorities on Friday.
China?s Hubei province which is the epicentre of the virus outbreak has reported 5,806 confirmed cases, including 204 deaths, official media reported. Chian?s state-run Xinhua news agency reported that 213 people have died due to the infection caused by the virus.

WHO Health Emergency Report on Coronavirus

The World Health Organization or WHO has declared the novel coronavirus threat as a global health emergency.
WHO declared on Friday an international emergency over the spread of deadly novel coronavirus from China to various parts of the globe. This ?Health Emergency? is a rarely used designation. It is used for improved international co-ordination in tackling a pandemic.

What are FASTags?
FASTags are prepaid rechargeable tags for toll collection that allow automatic payment deduction from the FASTag, they are normally affixed on the windscreen of your vehicle. With the help of a FASTag, you will not have to stop your vehicle at toll plazas to pay the toll. As soon as the vehicle crosses the toll plaza, the toll fee will get deducted from the bank account/prepaid wallet linked to the FASTag affixed on the vehicle's windscreen. An activated FASTtag works on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. Moreover, these FASTags do not have any expiry date, that is, they can be used as long as they are readable at the toll plaza and are not tampered.

How to buy and activate your FASTag
FASTags are issued by 22 certified banks through various channels such as Point-of-Sale (POS) at National Highway toll plazas and select bank branches. They are also available on e-commerce platform such as Amazon.

Here is how you can do it.
a) Self-Activation: FASTags are ?bank-neutral?, that is, no bank is pre-assigned to the FASTag at the time you purchase it from a POS terminal or online platform. The online FASTag is based on the concept of DIY (Do-It-Yourself) where you can self-activate it by entering vehicle details in the ?My FASTag? mobile app. Android smartphone users can download the My FASTag app from ?Google Play Store? and iPhone users can download the app from Apple Store.
Thereafter, you have the flexibility to link the FASTag with any one of your existing bank accounts by using the My FASTag Mobile app. The NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) Prepaid wallet facility is also available in My FASTag mobile app, where you can load money and get your toll fee deducted from the prepaid wallet instead of getting it directly deducted from a bank account.
b) Activate by visiting certified bank branch: You can also buy FASTag by visiting the nearest certified bank branch and get the FASTag linked with your existing bank account.
Here is the detailed list of certified banks providing FASTags
Axis, ICICI, IDFC, SBI, HDFC, Karur Vysya Bank, Equitas Small Finance Bank, Paytm Payments, Kotak Mahindra, Syndicate, Federal, South Indian Bank, PNB, Punjab&Maharashtra Co-op Bank, Saraswat Bank, Fino Payments Bank, City Union Bank, Bank of Baroda, IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank, Nagpur Nagarik Sahakari Bank Ltd, Union Bank.
At the time of activation, you need to submit the KYC (Know Your Customer) documentation as per the KYC policy of the bank. Apart from the KYC documentation, you need to submit Registration Certificate (RC) of the vehicle along with the application for FASTag to the bank.

What are the charges for FASTag?
FASTag issued by certified banks can charge maximum of Rs 100 for each tag, which is fixed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). However, the actual tag issuing charges are defined by the bank and may vary from bank to bank.
For instance, HDFC bank is selling FASTag for car at Rs 400. The pricing includes the following:
Rs 100 for Tag issuance fees
Rs 200 for Refundable Security Deposit
Rs 100 for first recharge amount in wallet when the wallet is been created
ICICI bank is selling FASTag for car at Rs 499.12 in the following manner:
Rs 99.12 for Tag issuance fees
Rs 200 for Refundable Security Deposit
Rs 200 for first recharge amount in wallet when the wallet is been created
The top up charges may vary from bank to bank and this difference can be seen on respective banks website.
Abhijeet Sehgal, CEO, 1Pay, a- Mumbai based digital payment solutions firm, said that these charges may vary if you buy the FASTag online because the person who is the seller has also added cost of delivery which by default you need to pay if you are posting your products on amazon. "Amazons 20 percent commission is also added to the cost hence it is expensive then the normal rate when you buy online," he added.

How to recharge your FASTag
If the FASTag is already linked with your bank account, then there is no need to load money separately in a prepaid wallet. You only need to ensure that your FASTag-linked bank account has sufficient balance to allow for toll payments. However, if you have linked the FASTag to a prepaid wallet (NHAI prepaid wallet), then it can be recharged through various channels such as payment through cheque or through UPI/debit card/ credit card/ NEFT/ Net Banking. Also, additional charges will be levied while recharging the FASTag account through different channels.
Moreover, there is a cap on the maximum balance which can be kept in the prepaid wallet. As per regulations, these limits are:
For limited KYC FASTag account holder:
This type of FASTag cannot have more than Rs 20,000 in their FASTag prepaid wallet. The monthly reload limit is also capped at Rs 20000.
For full KYC FASTag account holder:
This type of FASTag account cannot have more than Rs 1 lakh in their FASTag prepaid wallet. There is no monthly reload cap in this account, according to the Indian Highways Management Company Limited (IHMCL) website.

Points to note
You cannot use one FASTag with two or more vehicles, you will have to buy two separate FASTags for the two vehicles and so on.
As per the IHMCL website, "If you reside within a range of 10 km from the toll plaza, you can avail a concession on toll to be paid via your FASTag. In such a case, you need to submit the required documents - proof of residence at the bank, nearest POS location to validate that your residential address is within 10 km of a particular toll plaza. Once the address is verified, you can avail a concession on the toll paid via FASTag assigned to your vehicle."