• Plan Expenditure: estimated at Rs. 172,728 crore, up by 20.4%.
• Non-Plan Expenditure: estimated at Rs. 391,263 crore, up by 5.5%.
• Revenue Deficit: estimated at Rs. 84,727 crore, 2.1% of the GDP.
• Fiscal Deficit: estimated at Rs. 148,686 crore, 3.8% of the GDP.

2004-05: growth rate 7.5% with manufacturing sector at 8.1%; gross domestic saving increased t 29.1% of GDP and the rate of gross capital formation, 30.1% of GDP.

2005-06: GDP growth likely 8.1% with manufacturing sector to 9.4%; agricultural growth 2.3%; inflation as on 11th February’06 was 4.02%; non-food credit growing by over 25%.

• The rates remain same on personal income tax and corporate income tax. Further, no new taxes have been imposed.
• 1/6 scheme will stand abolished.
• There is a marginal revision in certain tax rates. Minimum Alternative Tax (MAT) rate is increased to 10% from the present 7.5%; long-term capital gains arising out of securities is included in calculating book profits; the credit period for MAT has been increased to seven years.
• There is an increase of 25%, across the board, on all rates of STT.
• Section 80IA of the Income Tax Act applies to infrastructure facilities; the terminal date for developing an industrial park extended to March 31, 2009 and for the power sector to March 31, 2010.
• Investments in fixed deposits in scheduled banks included in section 80C provided the term is not less than 5 years; limit of Rs. 10,000 for the contribution of certain pension funds is removed from 80CCC subject to overall ceiling of Rs. 1,00,000.
• Open-ended and close-ended equity-oriented schemes to be treated on par for exemption from dividend distribution tax.
• Exemption under section 10(23G) removed.
• Primary Agricultural Credit Societies and Primary Cooperative Agricultural and Rural Development Banks is still exempt from tax under section 80P; all other cooperative banks are excluded.
• Benefit of section 54ED withdrawn w.e.f. April 1, 2006; scope of section 54EC restricted to two institutions, viz., NHAI and REC; for NABARD, SIDBI and NHB route of zero coupon bonds to raise low cost funds already opened.
• Donations to wholly charitable institutions to be taxed at the highest marginal rate; such donations to partly religious and partly charitable institutions/trusts to be taxed only if the donation is specifically for an educational or medical purpose.
  Banking Cash Transaction Tax (BCTT) to continue until the Annual Information Returns (AIR) system can capture all significant financial transactions.

• FBT on ‘tour and travel’ reduced to 5%. - For airline companies and shipping industry, value benefit in the form of ‘hospitality’ and ‘use of hotel boarding and lodging facilities,’ at 5% instead of 20%.
• Expenses on free samples of medicines and medical equipment distributed to doctors excluded.
• Under section 115WB(1)(c) contribution by an employer to an employee per year a threshold of Rs. 1,00,000 has been prescribed to attract FBT.

• Non-agricultural products peak rate reduced to 12.5% from 15%; duty of alloy steel and primary and secondary non-ferrous metals reduced to 7.5% from 10% (also includes duty for ferro alloys); on steel melting scrap, the duty raised to 5%.
• Apart from few exceptions, the duty on mineral products reduced to 5%.
• Duty on ores and concentrates reduced to 2% from 5%.
• On refractories and number of materials for manufacture of refractories reduced to 7.5%.
• On basic inorganic chemicals reduced to 10% from 15%; on basic cyclic and acyclic hydrocarbons and their derivatives to 5%; on catalysts the duty to be reduced to 7.5% from 10%.
• Duty reduced to 5% from 10% on major bulk plastics such as PVC, LDPE and PP; on naptha for plastics it is nil; on raw materials of plastics like styrene, EDC and VCM, the duty is 2%.
• On 10 anti-AIDS and 14 anti-cancer drugs customs duty has been reduced to 5%; on certain life saving drugs, kits and equipment it is reduced to 5% from 15%; these drugs are exempted from excise duty and CVD.
• On packaging machines, duty reduced to 5% from 15%.
• Concessional project rate of 10% is to be extended to pipeline projects for the transportation of natural gas, crude petroleum and petroleum products.
• 4% CVD on all imports with few exceptions.
• On vanaspati, custom duty to be increased to 80%.
• Reduction of import duty on all man-made fibres and yarns, and raw materials like DMT, PTA and MEG to 10% from 15% and on paraxylene to 2%.

• Reduction of excise duty on all man-made fibre yarn and filament yarn to 8% from 16%.
• Duty on aerated drinks and small cars to be reduced to 16%.
• Customised software and software packages downloaded from the internet, DVD Drives, Flashs Drives and Combo Drives is to be fully exempted from excise duty but 8% duty to be imposed on packaged software sold over the counter.
• Duty on ready-to-eat packaged foods and instant food mixes such as dosa and idli mixes to be reduced to 8% from 16% where as condensed milk, ice cream, preparations of meat, fish and poultry, pectins, pasta and yeast is fully exempted. · Extracts of vegetable tanning such as quebracho and chestnut is exempted while duty of footwear with retail price between Rs. 250 to Rs. 750 is reduced to 8% from 16%.
• To all LPG stoves, concessional rate of 8% to be extended.
• Duty to be reduced to 8% from 16% on compact fluorescent lamps.
• Increase in excise duty on cigarettes by 5%.

• Service tax rate increased to 12% from 10%.
• New services to be included like ATM operations, maintenance and management, share transfer agents, sale of space or time (other than print media), sponsorship of events (other than sports events), ship management, etc.
• Leasing and hire purchase to be treated as loan transactions.
• Proposal to set April 1, 2010 as the date for introducing Goods and Service Tax (GST).

• To moderate the price, LPC has been included in the list of 'declared goods' under the CST Act.