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Finance Bill 2001 gets Presidential assent

The Finance Bill 2001, approved by Parliament during the last week of April, has received Presidential assent, according to official sources.

Before the Bill was passed by Parliament, the government had raised the standard deduction for Income Tax purposes by Rs 5,000 for salaried income up to Rs 300,000 and doubled the limit for TDS on interest income.

It also slashed customs duty for textiles and IT equipment imports while hiking the same for import of new cars and two-wheelers to protect domestic industry.

The raising of standard deduction limit alone would cost the exchequer Rs 10 billion, while other changes would be broadly revenue neutral.

Moving the Finance Bill 2001, in the Lok Sabha, Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha had partially restored the limit of deduction of interest income under section 80L to Rs 12,000 from the Rs 9,000 proposed in the Union Budget.

The additional deduction will cover interest rate on government securities.

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