Key points of the Budget 2023: The Modi administration’s goals are the construction of roads, highways, and railway lines, as seen by the Budget for 2023–24’s continued emphasis on increasing Capex. With changes to the new income tax system, the middle class has received some relief, making it quite evident that the government intends to switch from the old system to the new one.
With a target of 5.9% in FY 24 and adherence to the aim for the current fiscal year, the FM committed to the fiscal deficit plan in the Budget.
Budget Highlights: FM Sitharaman on the Indian Economy
- The economy is expected to grow by 7% this year.
Key Highlights of Budget 2023: Rural Focus
- The FM announces that the government will spend Rs 2 lakh crore on free food grains for all priority households under the PM Garib Kalyan Yojana.
- Until December 2023, the Centre will provide free food grains to all antyodaya and priority households.
Budget 2023 Key Updates: FM Sitharaman on Green Growth
- Green growth is one of the budget’s priorities.
- Many programmes for green growth are being implemented across various economic sectors. They will contribute to lower carbon intensity and the creation of green jobs.
Highlights of Budget 2023: Agri business – Key Takeaways
- The Union Government’s focus on agriculture reform continues, despite the fact that its legal reforms had to be repealed.
- The Budget proposes an open-source digital infrastructure for agriculture as well as an agriculture accelerator fund aimed at rural youth.
- These steps will benefit the fledgling agri-tech industry, which still employs nearly half of the country’s workforce.
Highlights of Budget 2023 – Healthcare: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in Budget 2023 that the government will launch a mission to eliminate sickle cell anaemia by 2047. This will entail raising awareness, universal screening of 7 crore people between the ages of 0 and 40 in tribal areas, and collaborations between central and state governments.
Highlights of Budget 2023 – Educational Sector
FM Sitharaman on educational infrastructure – Eklavya Modern Schools in the next three years – 157 new nursing colleges will be established in tandem with the existing 157 medical colleges established since 2014.
Budget Highlights for 2023: Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana
The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) was allocated Rs 79,000 crore in the Budget 2023-24, providing a further boost to the government’s programme to provide housing to the urban poor.
Nirmala Sitharaman, the finance minister, said in her presentation of the Union Budget on February 1 that the outlay for PMAY has been increased by 66 percent to over Rs 79,000 crore.
Highlights on the PAN Card – Budget 2023:
The legalisation of the permanent account number (PAN) as a single business identification has been announced in the Union Budget 2023-24. The change will allow businesses to enter the national single-window system using PAN rather than other data as a unique identifier.
Highlights of Budget 2023: FM Sitharaman on MSME
- The revamp schemes will go into effect in 2023, thanks to an infusion of Rs 9,000 crore into the corpus.
- This will allow for another Rs 2 lakh crore in collateral-free credit.
- Credit costs will also be reduced by about 1%.
Budget 2023 Highlights: Investmest in construction
From unity malls to roads and highways to affordable housing, the budget relies on domestic demand and public investments to drive growth as the world prepares for a recession.
Budget Highlights for 2023: DBT programme for youngsters
A Direct Benefit Transfer under a pan-India national apprenticeship scheme will be implemented to help 47 lakh youths in three years: FM Sitharaman
Highlights of Budget 2023: Digilocker
- FM Nirmala Sitharaman has announced the expansion of the Government’s Digilocker services for the fintech sector.
- “Document availability will be the focus for the DigitLocker expansion for the fintech sector. The fintech sector has been facilitated by digital services, PM Jan Dhan Yojana, Indian Stack, and UPI,” Sitharaman said.
Highlights of Budget 2023: Customs duty
- Mobile phone production in India increased from 5.8 crore units worth approximately Rs 18,900 crore in 2014-15 to 31 crore units worth approximately Rs 2,75,000 crore in the previous fiscal year.
- An additional year of duty-free importation of certain mobile phone components such as camera lenses and batteries.
Highlights of the Union Budget 2023: “Green Growth”
The key drivers of the government’s “Green Growth” priority sector are green hydrogen, clean energy storage, and transmission.
- Viability gap funding will be provided for battery energy storage systems with a capacity of 4,000 MWh.
- A detailed framework for pumped storage will be developed as well.
- Under the Environment Protection Act, a green credit programme to encourage behavioural change will be announced.
Budget key highlights: Personal income tax
- 0-3 lakh- nil
- 3-6 lakh -5%
- 6-9 lakh – 10%
- 9-12 lakh-15%
- 12-15 lakh -20%
- Above 15 lakh – 30%
Major relief to all tax payers in new regime: FM
Highlights of Budget 2023: Income tax rate
Under the new regime, the highest income tax rate is currently 42.74%.
Highlights of Budget 2023: Direct Taxation
This year, the tax portal processed over 6.54 million returns, with an average processing time of 16 days, down from 93 days in FY13-14. Within 24 hours, returns are processed.
Highlights of the Union Budget 2023: New taxation regime
The new tax regime has taken effect as the default tax regime. The government has taken a slew of steps to make the voluntary tax regime more appealing while foregoing revenue.
Highlights of the Union Budget 2023: Key Figures
- Food subsidies are expected to total 1.97 lakh crore in FY24.
- Fertilizer subsidies are expected to total 1.75 lakh crore in FY24.
- The target for FY24 divestment is Rs 51000 crore.
- Growth in FY23 is expected to be 7%.
- The FY23 divestment target has been reduced to Rs 50,000 crore.
- FY24 capital expenditure is proposed at Rs 10 lakh crore, a 33% increase.
- The agri credit target has been raised to Rs 20 lakh crore.
- Rs 2200 crore will be spent on high-value horticulture.
- The FM increases the PM Awas Yojana budget by 66% to Rs 79,000 crore.
- Over the next three years, it is planned to spend Rs 15000 crore on vulnerable tribal groups (PVTG).
- The third phase of e-courts will cost Rs 7000 crore.
- An investment of Rs 35000 crore is planned in energy security and energy transition.
- Green Hydrogen Mission targets a 5MMT output by 2030.
- Sugar cooperatives will benefit from a sum of Rs 10,000 crore.
- The import tax on compounded rubber has been raised from 10% to 25%.
- Cigarette taxes have been raised by 16% due to the disaster.
Highlights of Budget 2023-24: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
The Union health and family welfare ministry has been allocated Rs 89,155 crore in the Union budget FY24, a 12% increase over the revised budget estimated for FY 23.
- The department of health and family welfare has been allocated Rs 86,175 crore for the upcoming fiscal year, while the department of health research has been allocated Rs 2,980 crore.
- The department of health and family welfare has a budget of Rs 76,370 crore for the current fiscal year, while the department of health research has a budget of Rs 2,775 crore.
Highlights of the Union Budget 2023 – Road
- In the budget year 2023–2024, funding for the ministry of roads, transportation, and highways (MoRTH) increased by 36% to approximately Rs 2.7 lakh crore.
- The MoRTH’s capital expenditure plan for 2023–2024 includes an estimated Rs 1.62 lakh crore for the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
- According to the updated projections from the government, the NHAI will spend Rs 798 crore as IEBR in 2022–2023.
UNION BUDGET 2023-24 – IT
- The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s budget projection has grown from Rs 11,719.95 crore to Rs 16, 549.04 crore.
- The budget estimate for this year is nearly twice as large as it was two years ago, at Rs 8,118.65 crore for the year of 2021–22.
Highlights of the UNION BUDGET 2023-24 for aviation:
On Wednesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed an increase in capital spending for infrastructure development of 33% to Rs 10 lakh crore for the years 2023–24, or 3.3 percent of the GDP.
- She claimed that the recently established infrastructure finance secretariat will help to draw in more private investment while presenting the Budget.
- She declared that the government would resurrect 50 new airports, helipads, water aero drones, and advanced landing grounds in an effort to significantly enhance regional air connectivity.
- The Union Civil Aviation Ministry received Rs 3,113.36 crore from the Budget as well.
Highlights of the UNION BUDGET 2023-24 – Defence:
- The Ministry of Defence has been given the biggest allocation of any ministry, at Rs 5.94 lakh crore, but this is hardly a considerable increase from Rs 5.25 lakh crore for current fiscal year.
- Following the conclusion of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget address, shares of Bharat Electronics, Bharat Dynamics, Hindustan Aeronautics, Paras Defence, and BEML all experienced a 5–9% decline.
- The government has prohibited the importation of a number of commodities, including essential components used in defence equipment, as part of its ambitious Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme. which implies that they are being produced in India.
Highlights of the UNION BUDGET 2023-24: What is the difference between cheaper and more expensive?
What is cheaper?
Aeroplanes and other types of aircraft; Unwrought gold (including gold plated with platinum), semi-manufactured gold, or powder gold; Base metals or silver clad with gold that has been semi manufactured; Rubber pneumatic tyres, new or retreated, of the type used on heading aircraft; Platinum, unwrought, semi manufactured, or powder form; Waste and scrap precious metal or precious metal clad metal; various aquaculture inputs; Some TV and camera components.
Which imports are costlier?
Automobile (including electric automobiles); Bicycles, toys and toy components, imitation jewellery, articles made of precious metals, vinyl chloride monomer, naphtha, styrene, silver Dore, and compounded rubber (other than parts of electronic toys)
Overall Highlights UNION BUDGET 2023-24
- For the upcoming fiscal year, the government increased its target for agricultural lending by 11% to Rs 20 lakh crore.
- The government has also said that it will give farmers short-term loans up to Rs 3 lakh at an effective interest rate of 7% annually by offering a 2% interest subsidy.
- The maximum for collateral-free agriculture loans will now be increased from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 1.6 lakh by the RBI.
- Fully imported vehicles, including electric cars, are increasingly more expensive.
- The customs duty on completely constructed units (CBUs) with an engine capacity of less than 3,000 cc for gasoline-powered vehicles and less than 2,500 cc for diesel-powered vehicles has raised from 60% to 70%
- In a similar vein, the customs duty on electrically powered vehicles in CBU form has increased from 60% to 70%, with the exception of those with a cost, insurance, and freight (CIF) value of more than USD 40,000.
- The budget lessened the financial burden for anyone choosing the new tax system. The Government has suggested a limit of Rs. 10 crore on the deduction from capital gains on investments in residential properties under Sections 54 and 54F.
- Limiting the income tax exemption from proceeds of insurance policies with very high value is another suggestion with a similar goal in mind.
- The government would quadruple the Senior Citizens Savings Scheme’s deposit cap to Rs. 30 lakh and the Monthly Income Account Scheme’s cap to Rs. 9 lakh.
- The government has suggested raising the maximum deposit limits for the Monthly Income Account Scheme from 4.5 lakh rupees to 9 lakh rupees for a single account and from 9 lakh rupees to 15 lakh rupees for a combined account.
- The Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority will build an integrated IT platform for investors to reclaim unclaimed shares and underpaid dividends, according to another announcement made by FM.
- 100 laboratories in engineering institutions will be developing applications employing 5G services. Three centres of excellence for artificial intelligence will be established in leading educational institutions.
- A national digital library for kids and teens will be established to make good books more accessible across genres, geographies, and languages.
- The centre plans to hire 38,800 teachers and support staff for the 3.5 lakh indigenous pupils who would attend the 749 Eklavya Model Residential Schools.