5. Steps taken by the Government

♤ Doing away with plan and no-plan expenditure.

♤ Merger of General and Railways Budget.

♤ Restructuring of CSS.

♤ N K Singh panel was formed to review FRBMA for fiscal consolidation.

♤ Rationalization of subsidies through several initiatives:

o Direct Benefit transfer scheme through Jan Dhan-Mobile-Aadhar trinity.

o Shifting to Nutrient based subsidy scheme for fertilizers.

o Doing away with fuel subsidies except LPG and Kerosene.

o Freeing diesel and petrol prices.

o Give-it-campaign for LPG subsidy and withdrawing LPG subsidy from consumers having taxable income of 10 lakhs or more

♤ Levy of Long Term Capital Gains tax in Budget-2018 announced on profit exceeding Rs. 1 lakh during the sale of shares (equities) & equity mutual funds.

♤ Review of Public Private Partnership projects (PPPs) through various initiatives:

o Setting up robust institutional structure for appraising and approving PPP projects.

o Developing standardised documents such as model concession agreements across infrastructure sectors.

o Increasing availability of finance by creating dedicated institutions and providing viability gap funding.

o Abolishing of FPIB as more than 90% of FDI inflows are routed through the automatic route which do not require prior approval of FIPB.

♤ India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL) was incorporated in 2006 for providing long-term loans for financing infrastructure projects that typically involve long gestation periods. IIFCL raises funds from both domestic and overseas markets on the strength of government guarantees. It provides financial assistance both through direct lending to project companies, and by refinancing financial institutions.