New Delhi, Feb 29 : Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram has announced a proposal of Rs. 993 crore to the National Aids Control Programme.

Chidambaram said, “Studies have shown that the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS has come down from 0.9 per cent to 0.36 per cent, which is a matter of some satisfaction.”

He also announced the total exemption of excise duty on anti-AIDS drug ‘Atazanavir’ and bulk drugs for its manufactures.

New Delhi, Feb 29: Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday gave tax benefits to almost all section of society.

Chidambaram has restructured the tax slabs for income tax payment by raising the exemption limit from 110 thousand rupees to 150 thousand rupees for men, for women it has been raised from 145 thousand rupees to 180 thousand rupees and for senior citizens it has been raised from 195 thousand rupees to 225 thousand rupees.

New Delhi, Feb. 29 : Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has proposed a reduction in the custom duty on crude and unrefined sulphur from five percent to two percent in order to support domestic fertilizer production.

The duty exemption on naphtha for use in the manufacture of polymers has been withdrawn and the normal rate of five percent customs duty has been imposed to remove distortions that arise due to its export from refineries and import by manufacturers of polymers.

However, naphtha imported for the production of fertilizers will continue to the exempt from import duty.

New Delhi, Feb 29: To give a boost to the agricultural sector, Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram today announced a loan waiver for about forty million farmers while presenting his Budget proposals for fiscal 2008-09. This relief is expected to help the government deal with its current agrarian crisis.

Chidambaram announced waiver of 500 billion rupees worth of loans granted to small and marginal farmers and a settlement scheme of 100 billion rupees for other farmers.

New Delhi, Feb 29 : Following are the key points of Union Budget 2008-09 tabled by P Chidambaram.

Revenue Deficit will be 1.4 per cent Budget Estimate of 1.5 per cent

Sixth central pay commission to submit report by March

Rs 50 crores to be spent on tiger conservation

Rs 75 crores to ICCR for cultural development

Defence allocation hiked by 10% to Rs 1,05,600 crores

Rs 32,676 crore as subsidy to Public Distribution System (PDS)

Smart-card based PDS system in Haryana, Chandigarh

New Delhi, Feb 29: Finance Minister P Chidambaram Union Budget proposals for 2008-09 has got the thumbs up from the industry and investment bankers, who described it as a "fantastic" job.

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) President Sunil Mittal described the Budget as being on expected lines, “Although we are disappointed that the corporate tax has not been changed.”

"Corporate taxes are at fair levels. An increase of five per cent on short-term capital gains will make people hold for medium term," Kotak Mahidra Bank Managing Director Uday Kotak said.