Nirmala Sitharaman's 64th Birthday: Here's a list of the Finance Minister's major achievements

Finance Minsiter Nirmala Sitharaman turns 64 today. As one of the most interactive Union Ministers, Sithraman holds regular meetings with industry bodies and never turns away from bringing changes and innovations whenever required.

A report by Mint puts together some of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's major achievements:

Central Goods and Services Tax Amendment Bill

Finance Minister introduced the Central Goods and Services Tax Amendment Bill on Monsoon sessions' final day. The Lok Sabha apporved the amendments that had a slew of changes including 28% tax on Online gaming, horse racing, casinos, 5% GST on hotels in Cineplex, 22% tax on SUVs among others. Nirmala Sitharaman also told the Parliament that the 28% GST on Online games as recommended by the 50th GST Council meeting, will result in the increase of revenue from current levels.

Flagship Schemes

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has been vocal about garnering support and promoting flagship schemes. FM Nirmala Sitharaman has earlier said that Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) should continue their focus on flagship schemes of the Central government such as PMJJBY, PMSBY, PM SVANidhi, Atal Pension Yojana, PM Jan Dhan Yojana, PM Mudra Yojana, KCC, KCC Animal Husbandry & Fisheries, and aim for their saturation.

Income Tax Slabs

In her budget presentation, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced a big tax slab change for the working middle class faction. She has proposed to make the exemption limit to ₹7 lakh under the new tax regime. The Centre has now made the new income tax slab as the default tax regime.

Merging public sector banks

Finance Minister led the merging of public sector banks. The government announced the merger of 10 public sector lenders into 4 bigger and stronger banks in 2020. An RBI research paper recently mentioned that the merging of banks has  improved the efficiency of the banking sector.

Nirmala Sitharaman while speaking at the national CA conference organized by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) in Bhubaneswar urged the chartered accountants to familiarize themselves with new-age concepts and areas of accounting and compliance.