⦁ The Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Smt Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Union Budget 2022-23 in Parliament on February 1, 2022.
⦁ The key highlights of the budget are as follows:
⦁ India’s economic growth estimated at 9.2% to be the highest among all large economies.
⦁ 60 lakh new jobs to be created under the productivity linked incentive scheme in 14 sectors.
⦁ PLI Schemes have the potential to create an additional production of Rs 30 lakh crore.
⦁ Entering Amrit Kaal, the 25 year long lead up to India @100, the budget provides impetus for growth along four priorities:
I. PM GatiShakti
II. Inclusive Development
III. Productivity Enhancement & Investment, Sunrise opportunities, Energy Transition, and Climate Action.
IV. Financing of investments
⦁ PM GatiShakti
⦁ The seven engines that drive PM GatiShakti are Roads, Railways, Airports, Ports, Mass Transport, Waterways and Logistics Infrastructure.
⦁ PM GatiShkati National Master Plan
⦁ The scope of PM GatiShakti National Master Plan will encompass the seven engines for economic transformation, seamless multimodal connectivity and logistics efficiency.
⦁ The projects pertaining to these 7 engines in the National Infrastructure Pipeline will be aligned with PM GatiShakti framework.
⦁ 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.
⦁ Multimodal Logistics Parks
⦁ Contracts to be awarded through PPP mode in 2022-23 for implementation of Multimodal Logistics Parks at four locations.
⦁ Railways
⦁ One Station One Product concept to help 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 to be manufactured during the next three years.
⦁ 100 PM GatiShakti Cargo terminals for multimodal logistics to be developed during the next three years.
⦁ Parvatmala
⦁ National Ropeways Development Program, Parvatmala to be taken up on PPP mode.
⦁ Contracts to be awarded in 2022-23 for 8 ropeway projects of 60 Km length.
⦁ Inclusive Development
⦁ Agriculture
⦁ Rs. 2.37 lakh crore direct payment to 1.63 crore farmers for procurement of wheat and paddy.
⦁ Chemical free Natural farming to be promoted throughout the county. Initial focus is on farmer’s lands in 5 Km wide corridors along river Ganga.
⦁ NABARD to facilitate fund with blended capital to finance startups for agriculture & rural enterprise.
⦁ ‘Kisan Drones’ for crop assessment, digitization of land records, spraying of insecticides and nutrients.
⦁ Ken Betwa project
⦁ 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.
⦁ MSME
⦁ Udyam, e-shram, NCS and ASEEM portals to be interlinked.
⦁ 130 lakh MSMEs provided additional credit under Emergency Credit Linked Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS)
⦁ ECLGS to be extended up to March 2023.
⦁ Guarantee cover under ECLGS to be expanded by Rs 50000 Crore to total cover of Rs 5 Lakh Crore.
⦁ Rs 2 lakh Crore additional credit for Micro and Small Enterprises to be facilitated under the Credit Guarantee Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE).
⦁ Raising and Accelerating MSME performance (RAMP) programme with outlay of Rs 6000 Crore to be rolled out.
⦁ 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.
⦁ Startups will be promoted to facilitate ‘Drone Shakti’ and for Drone-As-A-Service (DrAAS).
⦁ Education
⦁ ‘One class-One TV channel’ programme of PM eVIDYA to be expanded to 200 TV channels.
⦁ Virtual labs and skilling e-labs to be set up to promote critical thinking skills and simulated learning environment.
⦁ High-quality e-content will be developed for delivery through Digital Teachers.
⦁ Digital University for world-class quality universal education with personalised learning experience to be established.
⦁ 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.
⦁ A network of 23 tele-mental health centres of excellence will be set up, with NIMHANS being the nodal centre and International Institute of Information Technology-Bangalore (IIITB) providing technology support.
⦁ Saksham Anganwadi
⦁ Integrated benefits to women and children through Mission Shakti, Mission Vatsalya, Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0.
⦁ Two lakh anganwadis to be upgraded to Saksham Anganwadis.
⦁ 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.
⦁ 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.
⦁ Export Promotion
⦁ Special Economic Zones Act to be replaced with a new legislation to enable States to become partners in ‘Development of Enterprise and Service Hubs’.
⦁ AtmaNirbharta in Defence:
⦁ 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.
⦁ Independent nodal umbrella body to be set up for meeting testing and certification requirements.
⦁ 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.
⦁ Five to seven per cent biomass pellets to be co-fired in thermal power plants:
⦁ CO2 savings of 38 MMT annually,
⦁ Extra income to farmers and job opportunities to locals,
⦁ Help avoid stubble burning in agriculture fields.
⦁ 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.
⦁ 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
⦁ Allocation of Rs. 1 lakh crore in 2022-23 to assist the states in catalysing overall investments in the economy: fifty-year interest free loans, over and above normal borrowings
⦁ 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
⦁ Cooperative societies
⦁ Alternate Minimum Tax paid by cooperatives brought down from 18.5 per cent to 15 per cent.
⦁ To provide a level playing field between cooperative societies and companies.
⦁ 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.
⦁ Brings them at par with central government employees.
⦁ Would help in enhancing social security benefits.
⦁ Incentives for Start-ups
⦁ Period of incorporation extended by one year, up to 31.03.2023 for eligible start-ups to avail tax benefit.
⦁ Previously the period of incorporation valid up to 31.03.2022.
⦁ 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.
