In the General Budget 2012-13 presented by the Union Finance Minister ShriPranab Mukherjee in LokSabha here today, it has been proposed to provide weighted deduction for expenditure in several sectors with the objective of promoting investment and facilitating growth.

To promote investment in research and development (R&D), the Finance Minister, Shri Pranab Mukherjee said that it has been proposed to extend the weighted deduction of 200 per cent for R&D expenditure in an in-house facility beyond March 31, 2012 for a further period of five years.

It has also been proposed to provide weighted deduction of 150 per cent on expenditure incurred for agri-extension services in order to facilitate growth in the agriculture sector.

For the power sector, besides measures for accessing low cost funds, the Finance Minister Shri Mukherjee has proposed extension of the sunset date by one year for power sector undertakings so that they can be setup on or before March 31, 2013 for claiming 100 per cent deduction of profits for ten years. Additional depreciation of 20 per cent in the initial year is proposed to be extended to new assets acquired by power generation companies.