The Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Smt Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Union Budget 2022-23 in Parliament on 01 February 2022. The Union Budget seeks to complement macro-economic level growth with a focus on micro-economic level all-inclusive welfare.
The Finance Minister said, India is celebrating Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav and has entered into Amrit Kaal, the 25-year-long leadup to India@100.
Important Highlights of the Union Budget 2022-23:
PART A- Union Budget 2022-23
India’s economic growth in the current year is estimated to be 9.2 per cent, highest among all large economies.
Entering Amrit Kaal, the 25 year long lead up to India @100, the budget provides impetus for growth along four priorities:
- PM GatiShakti
- Inclusive Development
- Productivity Enhancement & Investment, Sunrise opportunities, Energy Transition, and Climate Action.
- Financing of investments
The seven engines that drive PM GatiShakti are Roads, Railways, Airports, Ports, Mass Transport, Waterways and Logistics Infrastructure.
Road Transport:
- National Highways Network to be expanded by 25000 Km in 2022-23.
- Rs 20000 Crore to be mobilized for National Highways Network expansion.
Railways:
- 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 to be manufactured during the next three years.
Agriculture:
- Rs.2.37 lakh crore direct payment to 1.63 crore farmers for procurement of wheat and paddy.
Ken Betwa project:
- 1400 crore outlay for implementation of the Ken – Betwa link project.
MSME:
- Udyam, e-shram, NCS and ASEEM portals to be interlinked.
Skill Development:
- Digital Ecosystem for Skilling and Livelihood (DESH-Stack e-portal) will be launched to empower citizens to skill, reskill or upskill through on-line training.
Education:
- ‘One class-One TV channel’ programme of PM eVIDYA to be expanded to 200 TV channels.
Health:
- An open platform for National Digital Health Ecosystem to be rolled out. ‘National Tele Mental Health Programme’ for quality mental health counselling and care services to be launched.
Har Ghar, Nal Se Jal:
- Rs.60,000 crore allocated to cover 3.8 crore households in 2022-23 under Har Ghar, Nal se Jal.
Housing for All:
- Rs.48,000 crore allocated for completion of 80 lakh houses in 2022-23 under PM Awas Yojana.
Prime Minister’s Development Initiative for North-East Region (PM-DevINE):
- New scheme PM-DevINE launched to fund infrastructure and social development projects in the North-East.
- An initial allocation of Rs.1,500 crore made to enable livelihood activities for youth and women under the scheme.
Banking:
- 100 per cent of 1.5 lakh post offices to come on the core banking system. Scheduled Commercial Banks to set up 75 Digital Banking Units (DBUs) in 75 districts.
e-Passport:
- e-Passports with embedded chip and futuristic technology to be rolled out.
Land Records Management:
- Unique Land Parcel Identification Number for IT-based management of land records.
Accelerated Corporate Exit:
- Centre for Processing Accelerated Corporate Exit (C-PACE) to be established for speedy winding-up of companies.
Telecom Sector:
- Scheme for design-led manufacturing to be launched to build a strong ecosystem for 5G as part of the Production Linked Incentive Scheme.
AtmaNirbharta in Defence:
- 68% of capital procurement budget earmarked for domestic industry in 2022-23, up from 58% in 2021-22.
Sunrise Opportunities:
- Government contribution to be provided for R&D in Sunrise Opportunities like Artificial Intelligence, Geospatial Systems and Drones, Semiconductor and its eco-system, Space Economy, Genomics and Pharmaceuticals, Green Energy, and Clean Mobility Systems.
Energy Transition and Climate Action:
- Additional allocation of Rs.19,500 crore for Production Linked Incentive for manufacture of high efficiency solar modules to meet the goal of 280 GW of installed solar power by 2030.
Public Capital Investment:
» Public investment to continue to pump-prime private investment and demand in 2022-23.
- Outlay for capital expenditure stepped up sharply by 35.4% to Rs.7.50 lakh crore in 2022-23 from Rs.5.54 lakh crore in the current year.
- Outlay in 2022-23 to be 2.9% of GDP.
» ‘Effective Capital Expenditure’ of Central Government estimated at Rs.10.68 lakh crore in 2022-23, which is about 4.1% of GDP.
Mobilising Resources:
- Data Centres and Energy Storage Systems to be given infrastructure status.
Digital Rupee:
- Introduction of Digital Rupee by the Reserve Bank of India starting 2022-23.
Providing Greater Fiscal Space to States:
» Enhanced outlay for ‘Scheme for Financial Assistance to States for Capital Investment’:
- From Rs.10,000 crore in Budget Estimates to Rs.15,000 crore in Revised Estimates for current year
- In 2022-23, States will be allowed a fiscal deficit of 4% of GSDP, of which 0.5% will be tied to power sector reforms
Fiscal Management:
» Budget Estimates 2021-22: Rs.34.83 lakh crore
- Revised Estimates 2021-22: Rs.37.70 lakh crore
- Total expenditure in 2022-23 estimated at Rs.39.45 lakh crore
- Total receipts other than borrowings in 2022-23 estimated at Rs.22.84 lakh crore
- Fiscal deficit in current year: 6.9% of GDP (against 6.8% in Budget Estimates)
» Fiscal deficit in 2022-23 estimated at 6.4% of GDP
PART B- Union Budget 2022-23
Direct Taxes:
Cooperative Societies:
- Alternate Minimum Tax paid by cooperatives brought down from 18.5 per cent to 15 per cent.
- Surcharge on cooperative societies reduced from 12 per cent to 7 per cent for those having total income of more than Rs 1 crore and up to Rs 10 crores.
Parity in National Pension Scheme Contribution:
- Tax deduction limit increased from 10 per cent to 14 per cent on employer’s contribution to the NPS account of State Government employees.
Scheme for taxation of virtual digital assets:
- Specific tax regime for virtual digital assets introduced.
- Any income from transfer of any virtual digital asset to be taxed at the rate of 30 per cent.
Rationalizing TDS Provisions:
- Benefits passed on to agents as business promotion strategy taxable in hands of agents.
- Tax deduction provided to person giving benefits, if the aggregate value of such benefits exceeds Rs 20,000 during the financial year.
Indirect Taxes:
Gems and Jewellery:
- Customs duty on cut and polished diamonds and gemstones being reduced to 5 per cent; Nil customs duty to simply sawn diamond – To give a boost to the Gems and Jewellery sector
MSME:
- Customs duty on umbrellas being raised to 20 per cent. Exemption to parts of umbrellas being withdrawn.
Tariff measure to encourage blending of fuel:
- Unblended fuel to attract an additional differential excise duty of Rs 2/ litre from the 1st of October 2022 – to encourage blending of fuel.