The Union Budget seeks to complement macro-economic level growth with a focus on micro-economic level all-inclusive welfare. The Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, tabled the Union Budget 2022-23 in Parliament today.
The key highlights of the budget are as follows:
PART A
- 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:
- PM GatiShakti
- Inclusive Development
- Productivity Enhancement & Investment, Sunrise opportunities, Energy Transition, and Climate Action.
- 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.
Prime Minister’s Development Initiative for North-East Region (PM-DevINE)
- New scheme PM-DevINE launched to fund infrastructure and social development projects in the North-East.
- An initial allocation of Rs. 1,500 crore made to enable livelihood activities for youth and women under the scheme.
Vibrant Villages Programme
- Vibrant Villages Programme for development of Border villages with sparse population, limited connectivity and infrastructure on the northern border.
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.
Urban Planning
- Modernization of building byelaws, Town Planning Schemes (TPS), and Transit Oriented Development (TOD) will be implemented.
- Battery swapping policy to be brought out for setting up charging stations at scale in urban areas.
Land Records Management
- Unique Land Parcel Identification Number for IT-based management of land records.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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- CO2 savings of 38 MMT annually,
- Extra income to farmers and job opportunities to locals,
- Help avoid stubble burning in agriculture fields.
· Four pilot projects to be set up for coal gasification and conversion of coal into chemicals for the industry
· Financial support to farmers belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, who want to take up agro-forestry.
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.
GIFT-IFSC
- World-class foreign universities and institutions to be allowed in the GIFT City.
- An International Arbitration Centre to be set up for timely settlement of disputes under international jurisprudence.
Mobilising Resources
- Data Centres and Energy Storage Systems to be given infrastructure status.
· 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. Measures to be taken to help scale up this investment.
· Blended funds to be promoted for sunrise sectors.
· Sovereign Green Bonds to be issued for mobilizing resources for green infrastructure.
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
