The Union Budget with a total worth of ₹ 39.45 lakh crore was presented on 1 February 2022 in the 75th year of independence setting the stage perfectly for the Amrit Kaal-25 years to India being a centenarian, culminating a vision for the country in 2047. The focus area of the budget was multifaceted and multi dynamic with the agile approach towards all the key sectors of the economy. According to the economic survey 2022 the growth rate projected for current year stands at 9.2% and for the year 2022-2023 stands from 8% to 8.5%.Keeping in view the projected growth rate and the projected fiscal deficit of 6.9%, the government has increased the capital expenditure by 35.4% from ₹5.54 lakh crore to ₹7.5 lakh crore in 2022-2023. Following are the top 5 budget allocations-
- Ministry of Defence – ₹5.25 lakh crore
- Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and public distribution – ₹2.17 lakh crore
- Ministry of Road Transport and Highways- ₹1.99 lakh crore
- Ministry of Home Affairs- ₹1.85 lakh crore
- Ministry of Railways – ₹1.40 lakh crore
Some of the eccentric highlights of the budget are enlisted below-
- Development and manufacture of 400 new generation Vande Bharat trains with enhanced efficiency of energy and greattravelling experience over the next three years.
- Proposal of digital currency “Digital Rupee” based on block chain technology and aim to tax the income from virtual digital assets at 30%.
- Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) scheme for the development of MSME sector extended tillMarch 2023 covering an amount of ₹5 lakh crore.
- Post offices to start accepting deposits like other the banks of the financial system.
- Auction of telecom spectrum in 2022 that will facilitate private players to roll out 5G servicesbefore March 2023.
- ‘Updated return’ option to provide taxpayers an opportunity to ‘correct errors’ while filing returns or not havingreported certain transactions.
- To provide convenience to the citizens while travelling to abroad, “e-passports” shall be rolled out in 2022-23 using embedded chip and futuristic technology.
- Centre for Processing Accelerated Corporate Exit (CPACE), with process reengineering, to be established to facilitate and speed up the voluntary winding up of the companies from the currently required 2 years toless than 6 months.
- Proposal to issue “Green Bonds”, the proceeds of which will be utilised in public sector projects which will help in reducing the carbon intensity of theeconomy and lay the groundwork for achieving the target of being a net zero country by 2070.
- Aiming to establish National Tele Mental Health programme & 23 tele mentalhealth centres would be launched, with the nerve centre being at National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru.
- Start-ups to support ‘Drone Shakti’ through varied applicationsand for DroneAsAService (DrAAS).
- Use of “Kisan Drones” to be promoted for assessment of crops, digitisation of land records and spraying of insecticides and nutrients.
- Focus area on PM GATI SHAKTI shall be world class modern infrastructure and logistics synergy for different modes of movement(people and goods) and location of projects.
- Proposal to bring new SEZ (Special Economic Zone) Laws in order to let states become the partners in “Development of enterprise and service hubs”.
- To give a boost the domestic manufacturing for solar energy sector and add 2,80,000 MW of installed capacity by 2030, government has decided to have additional allocation of ₹19,500 crore as PLI(Production linked incentive scheme0 for production of solar modules.
- ₹48,000 crore have been allocated to PM Awas yojana, to achieve a target of building 80 lakh houses in the year 2022-2023.
Overall the budget is agile in its approach and aims to strengthen the pandemic hit economy by reviving private investments and job creation through a virtuous growth cycle, while keeping an eye on fiscal health.
The students of PGDM & PGDM(IB) of JIMS Kalkaji can upgrade their existing level of knowledge about the most crucial highlight of February 2022-THE BUDGET.
JIMS, Kalkaji
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