Highlights of Union Budget 2022-23

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her fourth Budget in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

Following are the highlights of the Union Budget 2022-23 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on Tuesday:

FISCAL POSITION

• India's growth estimated at 9.2 pc, to be highest among large economies
• Fiscal deficit in 2022-23 estimated at 6.4 pc of GDP
• Total expenditure in 2022-23 pegged at Rs 39.45 lakh cr
• Total receipts other than borrowings estimated at Rs 22.84 lakh cr in FY23
•  ‘Effective Capital Expenditure' of central government estimated at Rs 10.68 lakh cr in 2022-23, which is about 4.1pc of GDP
• Fiscal deficit in current year at 6.9 pc of GDP (against 6.8pc in Budget Estimates)
• 60 lakh new jobs to be created under productivity linked incentive scheme in 14 sectors

TAX PROPOSALS

• No change in personal income tax rates
• Provision to file an updated return on payment of additional tax; can be filed within two years from the end of the relevant assessment year
• Updated return provision to enable assessee to declare income missed out earlier
• Tax deduction limit increased from 10% to 14% on employer's contribution to the NPS account of state government employees
• Incentives for start-ups: Period of incorporation extended by 1 year, up to March 31, 2023 for eligible start-ups to avail tax benefit
• Any income from transfer of any virtual digital asset to be taxed at the rate of 30 pc; gift of virtual digital asset also to be taxed in the hands of recipient
• Health and education cess: any surcharge or cess on income, profits not allowable as business expenditure
• No setoff of any loss to be allowed against undisclosed income detected during search, survey operations
• Alternate minimum tax paid by cooperatives brought down from 18.5 per cent to 15 per cent
• Payment of annuity and lump sum amount from insurance scheme to be allowed to differently-abled dependent during the lifetime of parents/guardians, that is on parents/ guardian attaining the age of 60 years
• Surcharge on long term capital gains arising on transfer of any type of assets capped at 15 pc
• Gradual phasing out of concessional rates in capital goods and project imports; applying a tariff of 7.5 pc, conducive to the growth of domestic sector
• Over 350 exemption entries proposed to be gradually phased out, like exemption on certain agri produce, chemicals, fabrics, medical devices, and drugs and medicines for which sufficient domestic capacity exists
• Customs rate, tariff structure simplified particularly for sectors like chemicals, textiles and metals
• Customs duty rates to be calibrated for graded rate structure; to facilitate domestic manufacturing of wearable devices, hearable devices and electronic smart meters
• Duty concessions to parts of transformer of mobile phone chargers, camera lens of mobile camera module and some other items to promote domestic manufacturing of high growth electronic items
• Customs duty on cut, polished diamonds, gemstones cut to 5%; no duty on simply sawn diamond
• Customs duty of at least Rs 400 per kg to be paid on imitation jewellery import
• Customs duty on umbrellas raised to 20%; exemption to parts of umbrellas withdrawn
• Customs duty exemption given to steel scrap last year extended for another year to offer relief to MSME secondary steel producers
• Unblended fuel to attract an additional differential excise duty of Rs 2/ litre from Oct 1, 2022, to encourage blending of fuel

ALLOCATION AND REFORMS

• Rs 2.37 lakh cr direct payment to 1.63 crore farmers for procurement of wheat, paddy
• Rs 2 lakh cr additional credit for micro and small enterprises to be facilitated under the Credit Guarantee Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises
• For MSMEs, guarantee cover under ECLGS to be expanded by Rs 50,000 Crore to total cover of Rs 5 lakh cr
• Raising and Accelerating MSME performance (RAMP) programme with outlay of Rs 6,000 crore to be rolled out for MSMEs
• Rs 60,000 crore allocated to cover 3.8 crore households in 2022-23 under ‘Har Ghar, Nal se Jal'
• Rs 48,000 crore allocated for completion of 80 lakh houses in 2022-23 under PM Awas Yojana
• 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
• Initial allocation of Rs 1,500 crore made to enable livelihood activities for youth and women under the Prime Minister's Development Initiative for North-East Region (PM-DevINE)
• SEZ Act to be replaced with new legislation to enable States to become partners in ‘Development of Enterprise and Service Hubs'
• 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
• Scheduled Commercial Banks to set up 75 Digital Banking Units (DBUs) in 75 districts
• 100 per cent of 1.5 lakh post offices to come on core banking system
• e-Passports with embedded chip, futuristic technology to be rolled out
• Battery swapping policy to be brought out for setting up charging stations at scale in urban areas for promotion of electric mobility
• Centre for Processing Accelerated Corporate Exit (C-PACE) to be established for speedy winding-up of companies
• Scheme for design-led manufacturing to be launched to build a strong ecosystem for 5G as part of the PLI scheme
• Data centres and energy storage systems to be given infrastructure status
• RBI to introduce digital rupee in FY23 to boost digital economy, better currency management