nion Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the General Budget 2012 amidst uproar in the Lok Sabha.

The highlights of the Union Budget are given below -

Headline inflation to moderate further in next few months and remain stable thereafter. [Read: Budget:Tax benefits, costlier services] GDP to grow by 6.9 per cent in 2011-12, says FM. [Read: Union Budget 2012-13: Who said what ] GDP to grow by 7.6 per cent in 2012-13; plus, minus 0.25 per cent. Full exemption from basic customs duty for road and highway construction.[Read: List of prices gone up & down after Budget 2012] Gold jewellery not bearing brand name to be included in the one per cent levy on precious metal jewellery. [Read: Sops and imposts in Budget 2012-13] Customs duty on import of parts of aircraft, tyres and testing equipment fully exempted.[Read:UPA, Cong ditch India with Budget 2012 to win election 2014] Full exemption from basic customs duty on natural gas, LNG, uranium for generation of electricity for two years. Oil cess on domestic crude raised to Rs 4,500 per ton from Rs 2,500 per ton. Excise duty on all processed food brought down to merit rate of 6 per cent. Customs and central excise proposals to net a revenue of Rs 27,280 crore. Baggage allowance for people of Indian origin increased from Rs 25,000 to Rs 35,000 and for children from Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000. Customs duty on standard gold bar and coins exceeding 99.5 per cent purity, platinum and nonstandard gold raised. Branded silver jewellery fully exempted from excise duty. Installation of solar plants exempted from CVD. Customs duty on bicycles and parts increased. Import duty on large cars, MUVs, SUVs enhanced. Introduction of compulsory reporting of assets held abroad. [Read: Defence Budget hiked by more than 17 pc] Standard excise duty rate raised from 10 per cent to 12 per cent. Interest income of up to 10 per cent to be exempted from tax. Copyright relating to cinematography in film industry exempted from service tax. Service tax to yield additional revenue of Rs 18,650 crore. Securities Transaction Tax (STT) reduced from 0.125 per cent to 0.1 per cent. Cars to attract ad valorem rate of 27 per cent. Tax exemption of up to Rs 5,000 for health insurance for annual preventive health checkup. Capital gains tax on residential property exempted if sale proceeds used for SMEs. No change in the peak rate customs duty. No IT for income up to Rs 2,00,000; 10 pc on income between Rs 2-5 lakh; 20 pc on income between Rs 5-10 lakh and 30 pc on income above Rs 10 lakh. No change in corporate tax rate. Import of equipment for fertilizer plants fully exempt from customs duty for three years. Direct taxes proposals to result in net revenue loss of Rs 4,500 crore. Fiscal deficit at 5.9 per cent of GDP in revised estimates for 2011-12. White Paper on black money to be tabled in current session of Parliament.

Direct tax collection fell short by Rs 32,000 crore in current fiscal. Determined to bring down fiscal deficit to 5.1 per cent of GDP next fiscal. Non-plan expenditure Rs 9,69,900 crore in 2012-13; 8.7 per cent higher than current year. Total debt of the Centre will be 45 per cent of GDP. 40 crore Aadhar enrollment in year beginning April 2012.