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Highlights of Union Budget 2022-23 – Analysis & Important points

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2022 on February 1, 2022. The Budget proposals for this financial year rest on health and well-being, infrastructure, inclusive development, energy transition and climate action, financing of investments and ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’. 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 PLI schemes in 14 sectors. Significant announcements regarding digital currency, e-passports and a slew of infrastructure projects were announced.

Highlights & Important Point of Union Budget 2022-23

~ Infrastructure Sector ~ 

• • PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan at a cost of ₹20,000 crore. PM Gati Shakti initiative was announced last year with the aim of ensuring better coordination in implementation of infrastructure development projects. She said 100 Gati Shakti cargo terminals would be built over the next three years.
  • National Highways network to be expanded by 25,000 kms in 2022-23. A National Master Plan on Expressways will be formulated in 2022-23 to give greater push to roadways development.
  • Parvat Mala project would be launched for construction of 60 km of ropeway, more sustainable for hilly areas compared to traditional roads.
  • 400 new generation Vande Bharat trains to be manufactured in the next 3 years.
  • 100 Gati Shakti cargo terminals in the next 3 years.
  • Four multi-modal national parks contracts will be awarded in FY23.

~ Agriculture Sector ~ 

• Procurement of wheat, paddy, kharif and rabi crops, benefiting over 1 crore farmers.
• NABARD to facilitate funds with blended capital to finance startups for agriculture & rural enterprise.
• Government to promote funds for blended finance (government share limited to 20%) for sunrise opportunities such as climate action, agri-tech, etc.
• Ken-Betwa river linking project at a cost of Rs 44,000 crore, to benefit 9.0 lakh hectare of farmer land
• ₹2.37 lakh crore allocated towards direct payments for purchasing wheat and paddy at minimum support price.
• Money spent on procurement of rabi wheat and kharif paddy would benefit 1.63 crore farmers.
• Govt would promote chemical-free, natural farming across the country, special Kisan Drones would be used for crop assessment and spraying of pesticides.

~ Education Sector & Skill Development ~ 

• A Digital University will be established, and it will be based on networked-hub model and ensure quality education in various Indian languages.
• ‘One class, one TV channel’ program of PM eVIDYA will be expanded from 12 to 200 TV Channels to provide supplementary education in all regional languages, to make up for loss of formal education due to Covid.
• GIFT-IFSC World-class foreign universities and institutions to be allowed in the GIFT City.
• 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). 
• 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.

~ Defence Sector ~ 

• Union Budget 2022-23 would give a push to self-reliance in defence production as part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat initiative.
• 68 per cent of the capital procurement budget in the sector was earmarked for domestic procurement.
• Budget announced opening up defence R&D (research and development) to private industry, startups and academia. 25% of R&D budget to be set aside for this.
• Private industry will be encouraged to take up design and development of military platforms and equipment.
• Startups will be promoted to facilitate ‘drone shakti’ to promote drone usage.

~ Financial Sector ~

• Setting up of 75 digital banking units across 75 districts to push digital payments and fin-tech innovations in the country.
• Green bonds will be issued for upping green infrastructure.
• Amendments to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code to enhance the resolution process, including for cross-border insolvency; to establish a centre to reduce the process of voluntary winding up of companies to six months.
• An International Arbitration Centre to be set up for timely settlement of disputes under international jurisprudence.

~ Digital Currency & Blockchain ~

• RBI to introduce ‘digital rupee’ using blockchain technology in 2022-23. Introduction of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) will give a big boost to digital economy. Digital currency will also lead to a more efficient and cheaper currency management system.

~ Taxation provisions ~

• Taxpayers can file within 2 years an updated return if there is any anomaly in their filing.
• tax relief to persons with disabilities making parents or guardian eligible for benefits at 60.
• Tax deduction limit for NPS (National Pension Scheme) account of state government employees was increased from 10 per cent to 14 per cent at par with the central government employees.
• Cooperative societies pay 18.5% Alternate Minimum Tax (AMT) rate and companies pay 15%. From now cooperative too will have to pay only 15%.
• Surcharge on cooperative societies earning Rs 1-10 crore a year was also reduced to seven per cent.
• Virtual digital assets will be brought under tax regime.
• Long term capital gains surcharge will be capped at 15%.
• Custom duty on cut and polished diamond reduced to 5%.
• Custom duty on imitation duty slashed.
• Duty on Sodium cyanide increased.
• Duty on umbrellas raised to 20%.
• Steel scrap duty extended for another year.
• Anti-dumping on stainless steel is being revoked.
• Duty reduced on shrimp aquaculture.
• Slash custom duty on cut and polished diamonds to five per cent.
• Imported umbrellas became costlier as customs duty on such import was raised to 20 per cent.
• Concessional customs duty on import of capital goods to be phased out, the initial rate of 7.5% to be imposed.
• More than 350 exemptions on importing some agri products, chemicals, drugs, etc., will be phased out.
• Customs duty on imitation jewellery was raised to discourage their imports.
• Duty on specified leather, packaging boxes reduced to incentivise exports.
• Customs duty exemption on steel scrap is being extended by a year to help MSMEs.
• Customs duty on methanol to be reduced.
• Levying additional excise duty at Rs.2 per litre on unblended fuel to encourage fuel blending.

~ Taxation on Digital Assets ~ 

• Virtual digital assets to be taxed at 30%. Any income from transfer of any virtual digital asset shall be taxed at the rate of 30 per cent. No deduction in respect of any expenditure or allowance shall be allowed while computing such income except for the cost of acquisition. Further, loss from transfer of virtual digital asset cannot be set off against any other income.
• Gift of virtual digital asset is also proposed to be taxed in the hands of the recipient”. Any transaction in virtual digital asset like cryptocurrency, NFTs will attract a TDS (tax deduction at source) at the rate of one per cent.

~ Health & Welfare sector ~

• An open platform for the National Digital Health Ecosystem will be rolled out. It will consist of digital registries of health providers and facilities, unique health identity and universal access to health facilities.
• 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.
• 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.

~ Capital expenditure ~ 

• Substantial hike in capital expenditure from Rs 5.54 lakh crore in FY22 to Rs 7.5 lakh crore in FY23. It is an increase of 35.4 per cent and stands at 2.9 per cent of GDP.
• India will auction spectrum in 2022 to roll out 5G mobile services by private firms.
• Bharat Net optical fibre project will be expedited to complete in 2025.

~ Startups ~ 

• Regulatory framework for venture capital to be reviewed; an expert committee to be set up.
• Tax holiday extended for start-ups incorporated up to 31 March 2023 and for new manufacturing companies commencing operations by 31 March 2024.
• Venture Capital and Private Equity invested more than Rs. 5.5 lakh crore last year facilitating one of the largest start-up and growth ecosystem.

~ Corporates ~ 

• • Infrastructure status accorded to data centres and energy storage systems to facilitate credit availability
  • Additional INR 195 billion to be allocated to PLI for manufacturing solar PV modules
  • The Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme for MSMEs extended up to March 2023 with an additional guarantee cover of INR 500 billion for hospitality and related enterprises
  • Special Economic Zone Act to be replaced with a new legislation to enable the States’ partnership in development of enterprise and service hubs, optimally utilise the available infrastructure, and enhance export competitiveness
  • Concessional customs duty on capital goods and project imports to be gradually phased out to support growth of the domestic capital goods sector
  • 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 an outlay of Rs 6000 Crore to be rolled out.
  • Accelerated Corporate Exit Centre for Processing Accelerated Corporate Exit (C-PACE) to be established for speedy winding-up of companies. 
  • AVGC Promotion Task Force An animation, visual effects, gaming, and comic (AVGC) promotion task force to be set-up to realize the potential of this sector.
  • 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. 
  • 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.

~ e-Vehicles and energy ~ 

• Energy efficiency and saving measures will be promoted.
• A battery-swapping policy to be brought out with interoperability standards to boost the EV ecosystem.
• Rs 19,500 crore allocation in PLI for solar modules.

~ e-Passport ~ 

• Issuance of e-passports with futuristic tech to be introduced in 2022-23.

~ Employment ~ 

• Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for achieving Aatmanirbhar Bharat has received an excellent response, potentially creating 60 lakh new jobs and additional production of 30 lakh crore during the next Keycap digit five years.
• PLI schemes across 14 sectors have achieved a tremendous response and created 60 lakh job opportunities.

~ 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.
• Set-up of government-backed funds for climate action

~ Vibrant Villages Programme ~ 

• Vibrant Villages Programme for development of Border villages with sparse population, limited connectivity and infrastructure on the northern border.

~ Urban Planning ~ 

• Modernization of building bye laws, Town Planning Schemes (TPS), and Transit Oriented Development (TOD) will be implemented.

~ Land Records Management ~ 

• Unique Land Parcel Identification Number for IT-based management of land records.

~ 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’.

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