TIL Desk #TILUnionBudget2022/ Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcements for Union Budget in her Union Budget 2022-23 speech in Parliament. This is Sitharaman’s 4th Union Budget, and the Narendra Modi government’s 10th Budget.
The Budget documents usually include the finance minister’s speech in Parliament, highlights, annual financial statement, finance bill containing tax proposals, memorandum explaining the provisions in the financial bill, and macroeconomic framework statement.
They also include the medium-term fiscal policy cum fiscal policy strategy statement, outcome framework for schemes, customs notification, implementation of previous Budget announcements, receipt budget, expenditure budget and statement of budget estimates.
>>FM Nirmala Sitharaman begins her Budget speech with empathising with those who have suffered the effects of the pandemic. ‘We are in the midst of an Omicron wave,’ she tells Parliament. We are however in a strong position to withstand the impact, Sitharaman says. India’s economic growth in the current year is estimated to be 9.2%, the highest among all large economies, Sitharaman tells Parliament.
>>Strengthening of health infra, speedy vaccination programme implementation and nationwide resilient response to current wave of Covid pandmic are evident to all, says Sitharaman in her Budget 2022 speech. Budget 2022 seeks to lay the foundation to steer the economy over Amrit Kaal of next 25 years, from India at 75 to India at 100, continuing to build on the vision of Budget 2021, she says.
>>The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for achieving AatmaNirbhar Bharat has received excellent response, with the potential to create 60 lakh new jobs and additional production of 30 lakh crore during next years, Sitharaman says in her Budget speech.
Among other announcements made by the finance minister in her budget speech are:
>>National Highways will be extended by 25,000 km during 2022-23. One product one railway station will be popularised, 400 new Vande Bharat trains to be introduced. Strategic buyers for NINL have been selected. National Bank for Infrastructure Development, National Asset Reconstruction Company have commenced activities.
>>Railways will develop new products for small farmers and MSMEs. Contracts for multi-modal parks at 4 locations to be awarded next fiscal. ECLGS scheme to be extended till March 2023 and guarantee cover expanded by Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh cr. A rationalised scheme to increase domestic oilseed production will be brought in to cut down imports. 2022-23 has been announced as International Year of Millets.
>>PM Gati Shakti for road transport masterplan to be finalised in 2022-23. PM Gati Shakti is driven by 7 engines: roads, railways, airports, ports, mass transport, waterways. logistics infra, and all 7 engines will pull forward the economy in unison supported by energy transmission, IT communication, bulk water and sewerage and social infra.
>>PM development initiatives for the North-East will be implemented for the North Eastern Council, which will enable livelihood activities for youth and women. The scheme is not a substitute for the existing Centre or state schemes, Sitharaman announced.
>>An open platform for the National Digital Health Ecosystem will be rolled out. It will consist of digital registries of health providers and health facilities, unique health identity and universal access to health facilities, Sitharaman announced. Our government has comprehensively revamped schemes of the ministry of women and child development such as Mission Shakti, Mission Vatsalya, Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 to provide benefits.
>>’One class, one TV channel’ program of PM eVIDYA will be expanded from 12 to 200 TV channels. This will enable all states to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1 to 12. MSMEs such as Udyam, e-shram, NCS & Aseem portals will be interlinked,their scope will be widened. They will now perform as portals with live organic databases providing G-C, B-C & B-B services such as credit facilitation, enhancing entrepreneurial opportunities.
>>Kisan drones for crop assessment, land records, spraying of insecticides expected to drive a wave of technology in agri sector. Desh stack e-portal to be launched to promote digital infra. One Station One Product to be popularised to help local businesses and supply chains.
>>2,000 km of #Rail network to be brought under the indigenous world-class technology KAWACH, for safety and capacity augmentation Rs 6,000 crore programme to rate MSMEs to be rolled out over 5 years. Govt to pay Rs 2.37 lakh crore towards procurement of wheat and paddy under MSP operations. Special Economic Zones to be replaced with new legislation, announced Sitharaman, for the development of enterprise and hubs. It will cover the existing industrial enclaves and enhance the competitiveness of exports.
>>2 lakh Anganwadis to be upgraded for improving child health. Digital university to be set up to provide education; to be built on hub and spoke model. Natural farming will be promoted along Ganga river corridor . To promote a shift to the use of public transport in urban areas, special mobility zones with zero fossil fuel policy to be introduced. Considering space constraints in urban areas, a ‘Battery Swapping Policy’ will be brought in.
>>The pandemic has accentuated mental health problems in people of all ages. To better the access to quality mental health counseling and care services, a National Tele Mental Health programme will be launched. This will include a network of 23 tele mental health centres of excellence with Nimhans being the nodal centre and IIIT Bangalore providing technology support .
>>80 lakh affordable houses will be completed at Rs 44,000 cr under PM Awas Yojna in 2022-23. All post offices to be linked with Core Banking Solution to push financial inclusion, Finance Minister Sitharaman announced in her Budget speech on Tuesday, and 75 digital banks in 75 districts will be set up by scheduled commercial banks to encourage digital payments.
>>Next phase of ease of doing business, ease of living to be launched. Data exchange among all-mode operators to be brought in on unified logistics interface platform to enable efficient movement of goods. Villages on northern border of India will be covered under a new vibrant village programme to enhance development. To reduce the delay in payment, an online bill system to be launched which will be used by all central ministries.
>>Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) sector offers immense potential to employ youth. An AVGC promotion task force with all stakeholders will be set up to recommend ways to realise this and build domestic capacity for serving our markets and the global demand.
>>Fund to be facilitated through NABARD to finance startups for agriculture and rural enterprise, relevant for farm produce value chain. Startups will support FPOs and provide tech to farmers.A completely paperless, e-bill system will be launched by ministries for procurement .
>>5 existing academic institutions for urban planning to be designated as Centre for Excellence with endowment fund of Rs 250 cr. 75,000 compliances have been eliminated and 1,486 union laws repealed to make it easier for businesses . E-passport with embedded chip will be rolled out .
>>Effective Capital Expenditure of the central government is estimated at Rs 10.68 lakh crores in 2022-23, about 4.1% of GDP. 68% of the capital procurement budget for Defence to be earmarked for domestic industry to promote Aatmanirbharta and reduce dependence on imports of defence equipment. This is up from the 58% last fiscal.
>>Reserve Bank of India to issue digital rupee in 2022-23 using blockchain technology, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced. Low carbon development strategy opens up employment opportunity . Rs 19,500 cr additional allocation for PLI for manufacturing high efficiency solar modules has been made .
>>Contracts for laying of optical fibre net to all villages under BharatNet to be provided under PPP mode. Voluntary exit for corporates to be cut down to 6 months from 2 years. Spectrum auction will be conducted to roll out 5G mobile services within 2022-23 by private firms.Taxpayers can file updated returns within two years of relevant assessment year for a fee, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announed.
>>For 2022-23, allocation is Rs 1 lakh cr to assist the states in catalysing overall investments in economy. These 50-yr interest-free loans are over and above normal borrowings allowed to states. It will be used for PM Gati Shakti-related ad other productive capital investments of states.
>>4 pilot projects for coal gasification to be set up.>>Measures will be taken to step up private capital in infra sector . Data centre and energy storage system to be given infrastructure status; move to provide easy financing. Sovereign green bonds to be issued to mobilise resources as part of govt’s borrowing programme. World-class university to be allowed in GIFT IFSC free from domestic regulation. International arbitration centre will be set up in GIFT city to provide faster dispute resolution.
>>Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the surcharge on long term capital gains on transfer of assets will now be capped at 15%.Corporate surcharge is also being reduced from 12% to 7%, she added. Both Centre and states govt employees’ tax deduction limit to be increased from 10% to 14% to help the social security benefits of state govt employees and bring them at par with the Central govt employees.
>>Any income from transfer of any virtual digital asset shall be taxed at the rate of 30%. No deduction in respect of any expenditure or allowance shall be allowed while computing such income, except cost of acquisition. One of the highlights of her fourth Budget is that personal taxation slabs have been left untouched. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Finance Bill 2022 in Parliament on Tuesday following which the Lok Sabha has been adjourned till tomorrow.
>>The Finance Bill 2022 will give effect to the financial proposals of the central government for the financial year 2022-23. The Union Budget delivered today in Parliament was the fourth presented by Sitharaman. In her address today, Sitharaman said that Goods and Services Tax played a remarkable reform in India’s GDP.
>>”GST revenues are buoyant despite the pandemic, gross GST collection for the month of January are over Rs 1.4 lakh crore. The highest since the inception of GST,” she said. Taking together with provision for the creation of capital assets through grants and aids to states, the minister said, “Effective capital expenditure of central government is estimated at Rs 10.68 lakh crore in 2022-23, which will be around 4.1 per cent of GDP.”
>>The minister also spoke about the introduction of a central bank digital currency that will give boost to digital economy and thereby lead to cheaper currency management system. Blockchain and other technologies will be used by RBI to issue the same from 2022, the finance minister said.
Related Posts
