Budget 2022 Highlights: Digital rupee made legal; no change in Income Tax slabs

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Union Budget on Tuesday, February 1, said that India is expected to grow at 9.27 per cent in the coming year. With a focus on four pillars of development — inclusive development, productivity enhancement, energy transition, and climate action — the Budget 2022 gives a blueprint of the economy from India at 75 to India at 100, Sitharaman said.

Key takeaways from Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget speech:

* 100 PM Gati Shakti terminals to be set up in next three years

* Desh stack e-portal to be launched to promote digital infra

* Govt to pay Rs 2.37 lakh crore towards procurement of wheat and paddy under MSP operations

* Implementation of Ken-Betwa rivers linking with an estimated cost of Rs 44,605 cr to be taken up

* Draft DPRs for 5 river links have been finalized

* Kisan Drones for crop assessment, land records, spraying of insecticides expected to drive a wave of technology in agri sector

* Rs 6,000 crore program to rate MSMEs to be rolled out over 5 years

* Startups will be promoted for Drone Shakti

* 1-Class-1-TV Channel to be implemented to provide supplementary education to children to make up for the loss of formal education due to Covid. 

* Hospitality services by small and medium sector yet to bounce back

* Digital university to be set up to provide education; to be built on the hub and spoke model

* Economic recovery benefitting from public investment and capital spending

* PM Gati Shakti for road transport masterplan to be finalized in 2022-23

* 2022-23 has been announced as the International Year of Millets

* Railways will develop new products for small farmers and MSMEs

* Contracts for multi-modal parks at 4 locations to be awarded next fiscal

* ECLGS scheme to be extended till March 2023 and guarantee cover expanded by Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh cr

* 2,000 km of the rail network to be brought under the indigenous world-class technology KAWACH, for safety and capacity augmentation

* 400 new generation Vande Bharat trains with better Energy Efficiency and passenger riding experience to be manufactured in next three years

* Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) will be extended up to March 2023

* The guaranteed cover will be expanded by Rs 50,000 crores to a total cover of Rs 5 lakh crores

* Issuance of E-passports will be rolled out in 2022-23 to enhance convenience for  citizens

* The pandemic has accentuated mental health problems in people of all ages. 

* To better the access to quality mental health counseling and care services, a National Tele Mental Health program will be launched

* This will include a network of 23 tele mental health centers of excellence with Nimhans being the nodal center and IIIT Bangalore providing technology support

* PM development initiatives for North East will be implemented for the North Eastern Council. This will enable livelihood activities for youth and women. This scheme is not a substitute for the existing Centre or State schemes.

* 95 percent of 112 aspirational districts have made significant progress in health, infra

* 80 lakh affordable houses will be completed at Rs 44,000 cr under PM Awas Yojna in 2022-23

* A new scheme called PM Development Initiative for North East to be launched

* Villages on the northern border of India will be covered under a new vibrant village program to enhance the development

* 75 digital banks in 75 districts will be set up by scheduled commercial banks to encourage digital payments

* Projects in National Infrastructure Pipeline which pertain to 7 engines will be aligned with PM Gati Shakti Framework

* All post offices to be linked with Core Banking Solution to push financial inclusion

* Next phase of ease of doing business, ease of living to be launched

* Data exchange among all-mode operators to be brought in on unified logistics interface platform to enable efficient movement of goods

* A high-level panel to be set up for urban planning

* E-passport with embedded chip will be rolled out

* Modern building by-laws will be introduced

* 75,000 compliances have been eliminated and 1,486 union laws repealed to make it easier for businesses

* Battery swapping policy to allow EV charging stations for automobiles will be framed

* A completely paperless, e-bill system will be launched by ministries for procurement

* 5 existing academic institutions for urban planning to be designated as Centre for Excellence with endowment fund of Rs 250 cr

* Voluntary exit for corporates to be cut down to 6 months from 2 years

* 2,000 km of rail network to be brought under indigenous technology KAWACH for safety and capacity augmentation

* To reduce indirect costs for suppliers, surety bonds will be acceptable

* Spectrum auction will be conducted to roll out 5G mobile services within 2022-23 by private firms

* 68 percent of capital for defense sector to be earmarked for local industry

* Govt committed to reduce import and promote self-reliance in the defense sector

* Contracts for laying of optical fibre net to all villages under BharatNet to be provided under PPP mode

* Risks of climate change are strongest externalities for the world

* Low carbon development strategy opens up employment opportunity

* Rs 19,500 cr additional allocation for PLI for manufacturing high efficiency solar modules has been made

* 4 pilot projects for coal gasification are to be set up

* Financial support will be provided to farmers to take up agro-forestry

* Outlay for capital expenditure stepped up 35.4 pc to Rs 7.5 lakh crore in FY'23

* Economy has shown resilience to come out of pandemic, we need to sustain the level of growth

* Effective capital expenditure will be Rs 10.68 lakh crore, or 4.1 pc of GDP, in 2022-23

* Public investment must take lead to pump prime private investment and support demand

* World-class university to be allowed in GIFT IFSC free from domestic regulation

* Sovereign green bonds to be issued to mobilise resources as part of govt's borrowing programme

* International arbitration centre will be set up in GIFT city to provide faster dispute resolution

* Data centre and energy storage system to be given infrastructure status; move to provide easy financing

* PE/VC invested Rs 5.5 lakh crore in startup, expert committee will be set up to suggest measures to help attract investment

* Measures will be taken to step up private capital in infra sector

* Proposed to introduce Digital Rupee by RBI using blockchain technology, starting 2022-23,

* Rs 1 lakh crore financial assistance to states to be provided in 2022-23 to catalyse investments

* In 2022-23, states will be allowed fiscal deficit of up to 4 pc of GSDP

* Fiscal deficit at 6.9 per cent of GDP in 2021-22, 6.4 per cent in 2022-23

* Total expenditure in FY23 estimated at Rs 39.45 lakh cr; total resources mobilisation to be Rs 22.84 lakh cr other than borrowing:

* Govt vows a stable and predictable tax regime

* New provision to allow taxpayers to file an updated return within 2 years from the end of the relevant assessment year

* Alternate minimum tax to be reduced to 15% for cooperative societies

* Propose to increase tax deduction limit to 14% on employers contribution to NPS account of state govt employees

* Tax incentives for startups to be incorporated until March 31, 2023

* Reduce of surcharge of cooperative societies from 12% to 7% for those having income below 1 crore

* Virtual digital assets to be taxed at 30% and 1 % TDS on transfer of virtual digital assets

* GST payed a remarkable reform in India's GDP

* GST revenues are buoyant despite the pandemic, gross GST collection for month of January are over Rs. 1.4 lakh crore. The highest since the inception of GST

* Taxpayers deserve applause who have diligently contributed to fulfilling their responsibilities in improved tax & GST

* Faceless customs have done exceptional work against all odds and been an enabler in PLI & Ease of Doing Business

* To further electronics manufacturing, duty concessions given for high growth of electronics items

* Customs duty on cut polished diamonds, gems to be reduced to 5%

* No change in the Income Tax Bracket for tax-paying individuals.

FM Nirmala Sitharaman: Moving forward on this parallel track, we lay the following four priorities - PM Gati Shakti, inclusive development, productivity enhancement and investment, sunrise opportunities, energy transition and climate action & financing of investments

FM Nirmala Sitharaman: 400 new generation Vande Bharat trains with better efficiency to be brought in during the next 3 years; and100 PM Gati Shakti Cargo terminals to be developed during next 3 years along with implementation of innovative ways for building metro systems.

FM Nirmala Sitharaman: This Union Budget seeks to lay foundation & give blueprint of economy over ‘Amrit Kal’ of next 25 years - from India at 75 to India at 100

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her fourth Union Budget in Parliament at 11 AM for the fiscal year 2022-23 that will aim at maintaining the world's fastest-growing economy tag for India. 

Here are the key numbers to watch out for in the Budget, which is widely expected to boost spending towards policies that create jobs, boost manufacturing, helping rural and agri-economy and infrastructure creation.

Budget for world's fastest-growing economy: Key numbers to be watched

* COVID-19 spending: India had started the world's largest COVID inoculation programme on January 16, 2021. The expenditure on vaccination this fiscal, as well as in the next would be the most-watched figures in the Budget. The Budget estimate for vaccine expenditure for the current fiscal was Rs 35,000 crore.

* Fiscal Deficit: The budgeted fiscal deficit, which is the difference between the government expenditure and income, for the current fiscal ending March 2021 is 6.8%, against 9.3% in the previous fiscal. The number for the 2022-23 fiscal would be in focus.

* Disinvestment/Privatisation: The government has rarely met the high disinvestment targets set in Budgets. With a focus on privatization and keeping in mind fiscal consolidation and capital expenditure, the number would be closely watched. 

* Capital Expenditure: The government's planned capital expenditure for this fiscal was budgeted at over Rs 5.5 lakh crore. The government has to push infrastructure creation and this number would be in focus for the next fiscal too.

* Tax revenue: The government has budgeted a 9.5% growth in tax collections at Rs 22.2 lakh crore for the 2021-22 fiscal (April 2021 - March 2022). With Economic Survey projecting a GDP growth of 8-8.5% in the next fiscal, the buoyancy in tax revenue too would be closely watched.

* Borrowing: The government's gross borrowing budget was at Rs 12.05 lakh crore, while net borrowing was pegged at Rs 9.37 lakh crore in the current financial year ending March 31. The government borrows from the market to fund its fiscal deficit and the borrowing number would be watched by the market, especially on the back of expected higher capital expenditures to boost growth.