Pradeep Kumar Panda

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday unveiled budget for fiscal year 2022-23 with an aim to boost growth amid continued disruption from Covid-19 and rising inflation.

money

  • Amrit Kaal (India@75 to India@100) for celebration of 100 years of Independence
  • Focus on growth and all inclusive welfare, Promoting technology enabled development, energy transition and climate action, Virtuous cycle starting from private investment, crowded in by public capital investment
  • Four Priorities
    • PM Gati Shakti
    • Inclusive Development
    • Productivity Enhancement and Investment, Sunrise Opportunities, Energy Transition and Climate Action
    • Financing of Investments
  • 7 Engines of Growth of PM Gati Shakti: Roads, Railways, Airports, Ports, Mass Transport, Waterways, and Logistics Infrastructure.
  • National Master Plan aimed at world class modern infrastructure and logistics synergy
  • Formulation of Master Plan for expressways.
  • Completion of 25,000 km national highways in 2022-23
  • Unified Logistics Interface Platform allowing data exchange among all mode operators
  • Open Source Mobility Stack for seamless travel of passengers
  • 40 lakh new jobs creation in next 5 years
  • 4 Multimodal Logistics parks through PPP to be awarded in 2022-23
  • Integration of Postal and Railways Network facilitating parcel movement
  • One Station One Product
  • 400 next gen Vande Bharat Trains in next 3 years
  • Multimodal connectivity between mass urban transport and railway stations
  • National Ropeways Development Plan as sustainable alternative to conventional roads for hilly regions
  • Capacity building for infrastructure Projects
  • 100 PM Gati Shakti Kargo Terminals
  • 5 River Link DPR Finalised including implementation of Ken Betwa Link Project benefitting 9.1 lakh hectare farm land, providing drinking water to 62 lakh people and generating 130MW power
  • Promoting chemical free natural farming starting with farmers’ lands close to river Ganga
  • Promoting post harvest value addition, consumption and branding of millet products; 2023 year is designated as Year of Millets
  • Delivery of Digital and Hi-Tech services to farmers in PPP mode.
  • Use of Kisan Drones to aid farmers.
  • Launching fund with blended capital to finance agriculture start ups
  • Credit Guarantee for MSME extended till March 2023
  • Creation of National Credit Guarantee Trust
  • One class One TV channel programme to be expanded to 200 TV channels
  • Virtual labs and skilling e-labs to promote critical thinking skills and stimulated learning environment
  • A Digital University will be established with world class quality universal education
  • High quality e-content will be delivered through Digital Teachers
  • Digital Ecosystem for Skilling and Livelihood (DESH-Stack e-portal) will be launched to promote online training
  • Startups will be promoted to facilitate Drone Shakti for Drone-As-A-Service
  • National Digital Health Ecosystem will be rolled out
  • National Tele Mental Health Scheme will be launched for quality counselling
  • Integrated architecture: Mission Shakti, Mission Vatsalya, Saksham Anganwadi, and Poshan 2.0 to be launched
  • Two lakh Anganwadis to be upgraded to Saksham Anganwadis
  • Creation of National Health Register
  • Har Ghar, Nal Se Jal: 3.8 crore households to be covered in 2022-23 – Rs. 16,000 Crore budget allocated
  • PM Awas Yojana: 80 lakh houses to be completed in 2022-23 – Rs. 40,000 Crore budget allocated
  • Aspirational Blocks Programme: For development of lagging blocks of aspirational districts
  • Vibrant Villages Programme: Targeting development of villages on the Northern Border left out from the development gains
  • PM-DevINE: To fund infrastructure and social development based on felt needs of the North East
  • Establishment of 75 digital bank in 75 districts of country
  • Digital Banking by Post Offices: 100% of post offices to come on the core banking system
  • Ease of Doing Business 2.0 will be launched
  • Expanding scope of PARIVESH Portal
  • Integration of central and state level systems through IT bridges
  • Unique Land Parcel Identification Number for IT based management of land records
  • Establishing C-PACE to facilitate voluntary winding up of companies
  • End to end online e-Bill System and utilising surety bonds in government procurement
  • Opening up defence R&D for industry, startups and academia
  • Issuance of chip embedded e-Passports from the year 2022-23:
  • One Portal Approval under Single Window Clearance scheme
  • Modernisation of building by-laws, implementing Town Planning Schemes and Transit Oriented Development
  • Establishing five Centres of Excellence in urban planning
  • Launch of Batter Swapping Policy for promotion of Electronic Vehicles
  • Creation of Animation Promotion Taskforce
  • Optical Fiber connection in all villages by the year 2025
  • 19,500 Crore budget allocation for promotion of Solar PV
  • Biomass Pellets for stubble burning
  • 10 per cent increase in allocation for Make In India Defence programme
  • 4 per cent increase in Capital expenditure in the budget which is equivalent of 4.1 per cent of GDP
  • Announcement of Sovereign Green Bond for PSUs for promotion of climate finance
  • Establishment of International Arbitration Centre
  • Reduction in Co-operative Tax to 15 per cent in line with corporation tax rate
  • Tax deduction upped to 14% for State Government Employee under NPS
  • Tax relief for start up extended for Start-up till March 2023
  • Concession for Domestic Manufacturing Companies
  • No Change in Personal Income Tax Slab and Rates
  • Allowing taxpayers to file Updated Return within 2 years for correcting errors
  • Tax relief to persons with disability
  • 30 per cent tax imposed on income from virtual digital asset
  • 15 per cent surcharge on AOPs
  • Corporate surcharge reduced from 12 per cent to 7 per cent
  • Tax will be imposed on Cryptocurrency
  • 5G mobile service from the year 2022-23
  • Special Economic Zone policy will be replaced; Customs administration to be fully IT driven in SEZs
  • Creation of One Market One Tax
  • Phasing out concessional rates in capital goods and project imports gradually and apply a moderate tariff of 7.5 per cent
  • Review of customs exemptions and tariff simplification
  • Customs duty rates are being calibrated to provide a graded rate structure to facilitate domestic electronics manufacturing
  • Rationalisation of exemptions on implements and tools for agri sector manufactured in India
  • Extension of customs duty exemption to steel scrap
  • Reduction of duty on certain inputs required for shrimp aquaculture
  • Unblended fuel shall attract additional differential excise duty
  • Fiscal Deficit is estimated to be 6.9 per cent for the year 2021-22 and 6.4 per cent

There are no big ticket announcements in the budget. Budget is merely reiteration of already announced schemes. Budget is silent on addressing inequality, containing inflation, addressing rural and agriculture distress. There is no incentive to consumer for revival of FMCG sector. There is no relief related to COVID-19 related health expenditure borne by majority of households in India. Reduction in budget for SC and ST Subplan and drastic cut in social sector spending.

(The author is an economist based in New Delhi. Views are personal.)

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