Ms. Sitharaman represented her budget quote among all eyes open wide and ears broaden to hear some really good announcements for economic growth as well as profitable for commoners. In her initial speech, the minister talked about need for increasing productivity and profitability and adopt global standards to promote domestic products. Big announcements are made in favour to the private sector and a better business in India.
Capital investment is being increased to 10 Lakh Crore, which is remarkable increase of 33% in 2023 budget. 50 airports, water aero drones and helipads are promised with improvised landing grounds to build and railways got highest allocation of 2.40 lakh crore investment for the running financial year. In specified government agencies, PAN is planned to be used as a common identifier, while simplifying KYC processing.
With several investment announcements made to promote MSMEs, tax deductions and benefits ware promised. Along with that MSME sector is promised for a boost with measures to enhance credit guarantee, tax revision, tax benefits and deductions. Also, the sector is assured relief from the hit caused during Covid-19 pandemic. Plus, Digi locker will also be setup for the shake of this sector.
In Fintech announcement, the scope of Digi locker is planned to be expanded. An increase of 76% in digital transactions was also mentioned by honourable finance minister. To facilitate better digitization process significance of Digi locker service was mentioned during the budget session.
Announcement in favour to empower senior citizens and women were made, where senior citizens get benefited of maximum deposit from 15 lakhs to 30 lakhs now and women will be getting Mahila samman saving certification for the period of 2yrs.
Among big announcement, E-courts project has got a Rs7000-crore investment capital for next phase. Also, special initiatives will be taken for the growth of 5G services. And, measures are to be increased for creating lab grown diamonds. For that, customs duty will be reduced on the machines and seeds used to develop these diamonds. Digital library will be set up to overcome educational loss caused by Covid-19.
The government also announced to reduce dependency on fossil fuel by investing RS19700 Crore in National green hydrogen mission. It prominently planned to usher in green tech by aiming for zero carbon emission till 2070. The budget also talked about investing 35,000 crore preparatory fund for energy transmission. Gobarghan scheme is being introduced to promote biofuel and 200 units of bio compressing plants are announced for set up in India.
Not only this, PM Kaushal Vikas Yojna 4.0 also came into existence, which is a Scheme to skill lakhs of youths within 3 years to grab better employment opportunity. She said, "Pradhan Mantri Kausal Vikas Yojana 4.0 will be launched to skill lakhs of youth within the next 3 years. On job training, industry partnership and alignment of courses with needs of industry will be part of the Yojana. The scheme 4.0 will be designed with new age courses for industry like coding, AI, robotics, mechatronix, 3D printing, internet of things, drones and other soft skills."
Policy are being enhanced on polluting vehicle. Funds allotment for government vehicle replacement including old ambulance were announced. Along with that, Coastel shipping mode is recommended via PPP that to reduce the cost on transportation.
On computerizing agriculture, the finance minister said, “63,000 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies are being computerized with investment of Rs. 2,516 crores; model bylaws were formulated for PACS, national database is being prepared, with this, massive decentralized storage capacity to be set up”.
Ms Sitharaman also promised to encourage AI in India by establishing 3 Centres of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence in best educational institutions of India. Custom duty on TV panel is reduced and on kitchen chimney it is increased. Certain parts of camera like lens will be relieved in custom duty.
Custom duty rate basics will be reduced by 13, she explained, “I propose to reduce the number of basic custom duty rates on goods other than textiles and agriculture, from 21 to 13. As a result, there are minor changes in the basic custom duties, cesses & surcharges on some items including toys, bicycles, automobiles.”
Income tax for the commoners is decreased from 5-7lakhs for new tax regime. On tax structure Ms Sitharaman said, “I introduced in 2020, the new personal income tax regime with 6 income slabs, starting from ₹2.5 Lakhs. I propose to change the tax structure in this regime by reducing the number of slabs to five and increasing the tax exemption limit to ₹3 Lakhs.” Here are the new tax rates:
0 - ₹3 Lac - nil
₹3 - 6 Lac - 5%
₹6 - 9 Lac - 10%
₹9 - 12 Lac - 15%
₹12 - 15 Lac - 20%
Above 15 Lac - 30%
₹10,000 crore fund is allocated for improving infrastructure in urban area under government’s Urban Infrastructure Development scheme. Plus, ₹200.53 crore fund is reserved to boost National Intelligence Grid for providing better technology to core-agencies. ₹990 crore outlay is provided to improve G20 presidency, while ₹100 Cr for Chabahar port of Iran for better regional connectivity.
The government released an economic survey a day before the presentation of Union Budget, and according to it, Indian economy is forecasted to witness a growth of 6.5% in next financial year 2024. Finance Minister Ms Nirmala Sitharaman proposed this survey ahead of her fifth budget presentation in her career as a Finance Minister of India, after the President Draupadi Murmu’s addressal to the parliament.
