HIGHLIGHTS OF THE UNION BUDGET 2022-23

This article has been written by Shweta Jha of University of Mumbai, during her internship at LeDroit.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on 1st February presented the Union Budget of the year 2022, the blueprint for ‘amrit kal’ of subsequent 25 years, in Parliament, before elections in five states. The Union Budget seeks to compliment macro-economic level growth attentively on micro-economic level all inclusive welfare. Presenting Budget 2022-23, Nirmala Sitharaman estimated India’s total expenditure at Rs 39.45 lakh crore and projected fiscal deficit at 6.4% of GDP for FY23.
The keyhighlights of the Budget are as follows:

1. India’s economic process estimated at 9.2% to be the very best among all large economies.
2. 60 lakh new jobs to be created under the productivity linked incentive scheme in 14 sectors.
3. PLI Schemes have the potential to form an extra further production of Rs 30 lakh crore.
4. Entering Amrit Kaal, the 25 year long initiate up to India at 100, the budget provides impetus for growth.
5. FM Nirmala Sitharaman outlined the subsequent four priorities:
   a. PM GatiShakti
   b. Inclusive Development
   c. Productivity Enhancement & Investment, Sunrise Opportunities, Energy Transition, and Climate Action
   d. Financing of Investments
6. Explaining the PM GatiShakti, the Minister of Finance said that it’s an approach for economic process and development driven by seven engines viz. Roads, Railways, Airports, Ports, Mass Transport, Waterways, and Logistics Infrastructure. All seven engines will pull forward the economy in unison. These engines are supported by roles of Energy Transmission, IT Communication, Bulk Water & Sewerage, and Social Infrastructure.
7. The Plan of PM GatiShakti for Expressways are getting to be formulated in 2022-23 to facilitate faster movement of people and goods.

8. The National Highways network are getting to be expanded by 25,000 km in 2022-23
9. Rs 20,000 crore are going to be mobilized through innovative ways of financing to complement the public resources.
10. She added that contracts for implementation of Multimodal Logistics Parks at four locations through PPP(Public- Private Partnership) mode are going to be awarded in 2022-23.
11. In Railways, One Station One Product concept to assist local businesses & supply chains, 2000 Km of railway network to be brought under Kavach, the indigenous world class technology and capacity augmentation in 2022-23, 400 new generation Vande Bharat Trains with better energy efficiency and passenger riding experience to be manufactured during subsequent three years, 100 PM GatiShakti Cargo terminals for multimodal logistics to be developed during subsequent three years.
12. In Agriculture, the FM informed that Chemical-free Natural Farming are going to be promoted everywhere the country, with attention on farmer’s lands in 5- km wide corridors along river Ganga, at the primary stage. Use of ‘Kisan Drones’ are going to be promoted for crop assessment, digitization of land records, spraying of insecticides, and nutrients. She said, to scale back dependence on import of oilseeds, a rationalised and comprehensive scheme to extend domestic production of oilseeds are going to be implemented.
13. The year 2023 being announced as because the International Year of Millets, the govt announced the support for post-harvest value addition, enhancing domestic consumption, and for branding millet products nationally and internationally.
14. FM estimated 1400 crore outlay for implementation of the Ken – Betwa link project, 9.08 lakh hectares of farmers’ lands to receive irrigation benefits by Ken-Betwa link project.
15. Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) has provided much-needed additional credit to quite 130 lakh MSMEs to assist them mitigate the adverse impact of the pandemic. She, however added that the hospitality and related services, especially those by micro and smaller enterprises, are yet to regain their pre-pandemic level of business and after considering these aspects, the ECLGS are getting to be extended up to March 2023. She informed that its guarantee cover are getting to be expanded by Rs 50,000 crore to total cover of Rs 5 lakh crore, with the additional amount being earmarked exclusively for the hospitality and related enterprises. Credit Guarantee Trust for Micro and little Enterprises (CGTMSE) scheme are going to be updated with required addition of funds which can facilitate additional credit of Rs 2 lakh crore. FM says Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance (RAMP) programme with outlay of Rs 6,000 crore over 5 years are going to be unrolled to form the MSME sector more resilient, competitive and efficient.

16. Udyam, e-Shram, NCS and ASEEM portals are going to be interlinked and their scope are going to be widened.
17. On the topic of Skill development and Quality Education, Startups are going to be promoted to facilitate ‘Drone Shakti’ through varied applications and for Drone-As-A-Service (DrAAS). In select ITIs, in every state, the required courses for skilling are getting to be started. In vocational courses, to market crucial critical thinking skills, to offer space for creativity, 750 virtual labs in science and arithmetic , and 75 skilling e-labs for simulated learning environment, are going to be set-up in 2022-23.
18. ‘One class-one TV channel’ programme of PM eVIDYA are going to be expanded from 12 to 200 TV channels which can enable all states to supply supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1-12 to cope up with the loss of two years of formal education thanks to the pandemic-induced closure of faculties .
19. Digital University for world-class quality universal education with personalised learning experience to be established.
20. An open platform for the National Digital Health Ecosystem under Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission are going to be administered and it’ll contains digital registries of health providers and health facilities, unique health identity, consent framework, and universal access to health facilities.
21. A ‘National Tele Mental Health Programme’ are going go be launched for better access to quality mental health counselling and care services with NIMHANS (National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences) being the nodal centre and International Institute of Information Technology-Bangalore (IIITB) providing technology support.
22. Allocation of Rs 60,000 crore to cover 3.8 crore households in 2022-23 for Har Ghar, Nal Se Jal. Current coverage is 8.7 crores and of this 5.5 crore households were provided tap water in last 2 years itself.
23. Allocation of Rs 48,000 crore for completion of 80 Lakhd Houses under PM Awas Yojana

24. A new scheme called Prime Minister’s Development Initiative for NorthEast (PM-DevINE), will be implemented in the spirit of PM GatiShakti, and social development projects based on felt needs of the North-East. An initial allocation of Rs 1500 crore will enable livelihood activities for youth and women.
25. For the benefits of farmers and senior citizens in rural areas to enable interoperability and financial inclusion; 100 per cent of 1.5 lakh post offices to come on the core banking industry enabling financial inclusion and access to accounts through 11 net banking, mobile banking, ATMs, and also provide online transfer of funds between post office accounts and bank accounts.
26. 75 Digital Banking Units (DBUs) in 75 districts of the country by Scheduled Commercial Banks.
27. To enhance convenience for the citizens in their overseas travel the issuance of e-Passports using embedded chip and futuristic technology will be rolled out in 2022-23.
28. Modernization of building byelaws, Town Planning Schemes (TPS), and Transit Oriented Development (TOD) will be implemented.
29. Battery swapping policy to be brought out for setting up charging stations at scale in urban areas.
30. An AVGC promotion task force with all stakeholders will be set-up to promote the animation, visual effects, gaming, and comic (AVGC) sector as it offers immense potential to employ youth thereby building domestic capacity for serving the markets and the global demand.
31. Scheme for design-led manufacturing to be launched to build a strong ecosystem for 5G as part of the Production Linked Incentive Scheme.
32. 68% of capital procurement budget earmarked for domestic industry in 2022-23, up from 58% in 2021-22, Defence R&D to be opened up for industry, startups and academia with 25% of defence R&D budget earmarked also an Independent nodal umbrella body to be set up for meeting testing and certification requirement.
33. An additional allocation of Rs. 19,500 crore for Production Linked Incentive for manufacture of high efficiency modules, with priority to completely integrated manufacturing units from polysilicon to solar PV modules, are going to be made to facilitate domestic manufacturing for the ambitious goal of 280 GW of installed solar capacity by 2030.

34. The ‘Effective Capital Expenditure’ of the Central Government is estimated at Rs 10.68 lakh crore in 2022-23.
35. Digital Rupee, using blockchain and other technologies to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India for more efficient and cheaper currency management system.
36. Outlay for the ‘Scheme for Financial Assistance to States for Capital Investment’ estimated at Rs 10,000 crore in the Budget Estimates to Rs 15,000 crore in the Revised Estimates for the current year.
37. The Fiscal Deficit in 2022-23 is estimated at 6.4 per cent of GDP.
38. On the Direct Tax side, the taxpayers are to file updated income tax return within 2 years for correcting errors. It also provides tax relief to persons with disability. Alternate minimum tax rate and surcharge for cooperatives are reduced. As an incentive for startups, period of incorporation of eligible startups has been extended by another year. The budget proposes to increase tax deduction limit on employer’s NPS(National Pension Scheme) account of state government employees to bring uniformity with central government employees. Newly incorporated manufacturing entities will be incentivized under concessional tax regime. Income from transfer of virtual assets are going to be taxed at 30%.
39. Better litigation management to avoid repetitive appeals.
40. On the Indirect tax side, Customs administration in Special Economic Zones will be fully IT driven. Gradually phasing out of the concessional rates in capital goods and project imports; and applying a moderate tariff of 7.5 percent conducive to the expansion of domestic sector and ‘Make in India’. More than 350 exemption entries proposed to be gradually phased out, like exemption on certain agricultural produce, chemicals, fabrics, medical devices, & drugs and medicines for which sufficient domestic capacity exists. It proposes that customs duty rates will be calibrated to provide a graded structure to facilitate domestic electronics manufacturing. Rationalization of exemptions on implements and tools for agri sector manufactured in India are going to be undertaken. Faceless Customs has been fully established. During Covid-19 pandemic, Customs formations have done exceptional frontline work against all odds displaying agility and purpose.