New Delhi, July 5: Following Nirmala Sitharaman's maiden Union Budget Speech today at the Parliament, PM Narendra Modi in an address to the nation said, "The budget for a New India has a roadmap to transform the agriculture sector of the country, this Budget is one of hope The middle class will progress with this budget, development work will expedite even more. The tax structure will simplify and infrastructure will modernize." Union Budget 2019 Highlights: Nirmala Sitharaman Affirms Govt Intentions to Reduce Rural-Urban Divide Through Railways and Roadways.

He further mentioned that Union Budget 2019 has kept in mind the poor, and it will ensure a better life for them and the youth of the nation, whose future has been secured.

Watch his thoughts on the Budget Speech here:

Some of the notable initiatives announced by FM are- PAN card and Aadhaar card will now become interchangeable when it comes to filing IT Returns. Pension For Retailers, Cess on Petrol and Diesel, TV Channel For Startups are some of the major sops announced in Budget 2019. Under the pension scheme of retailers, the total number of beneficiaries is estimated to be around three crores.

There has been no change in the tax slabs. Sitharaman said the surcharge for taxable income from Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore has been increased to 3 percent while that of people with income Rs 5 crore and above has been hiked to 7 percent. The Finance Minister further said that all companies having an annual turnover of 400 crores, will now be under the bracket of 25 percent. This will cover 99.3 percent of all the companies, the Finance Minister said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 05, 2019 02:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).