Union Budget 2022-23: Part A Highlights

Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2022-23 in the Parliament today. The budget seeks to complement macro-economic level growth with a focus on micro-economic level all-inclusive welfare.

Presenting her second successive paperless budget, the finance minister said the country is marking AzadikaAmritMahotsav and has entered into AmritKaal, the 25-year-long lead up to India@100.

The key highlights of Part A of the Union Budget 2022-23:

- Economic Growth

India's economic growth is 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 the impetus for growth along with four priorities:

1) PM GatiShakti

2) Inclusive Development

3) Productivity Enhancement & Investment, Sunrise opportunities, Energy Transition, and Climate Action.

4) 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 the 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 the 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. The 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 a 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 an 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 online 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 a simulated learning environment.

♦ High-quality e-content will be developed for delivery through Digital Teachers.

♦ Digital University for world-class quality universal education with a 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 the International Institute of Information Technology-Bangalore (IIITB) providing technical 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 was 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 bye-laws, 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 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 the 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 the 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:

♦ 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.

♦ The 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.

♦ The 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 ecosystems. Measures are 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 the 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 the current year: 6.9% of GDP (against 6.8% in Budget Estimates)

♦ Fiscal deficit in 2022-23 estimated at 6.4% of GDP