India’s Rs39.45 trillion Union Budget 2022 at a glance: All you need to know

India unveiled on Tuesday a bigger budget of 39.45 trillion rupee ($529.7 billion) for the coming fiscal year, stepping up investment on highways and affordable housing to put growth on a firmer footing as the economy recovers from the pandemic.

The government has projected GDP growth at 8 per cent to 8.5 per cent compared with an estimated 9.2 per cent for the current fiscal year and a 6.6 per cent contraction the previous year, Reuters reported.

All macro indicators indicated that Asia's third-largest economy was well-placed to face challenges, helped by improving farm and industrial output growth, the government's annual economic survey said on Monday.

Travel

— e-passports will be rolled out in 2022-23 for convenience in overseas travel

— E-passport with embedded chip will be rolled out

Economy

— Capital expenditure, or capex target expanded by 35.4 per cent — from Rs 5.54 lakh crore to Rs 7.50 lakh crore. FY23 effective capex seen at Rs 10.7 lakh crore

— India's growth highest among all major economies; we are now in a strong position to withstand challenges

— The goal is complementing macro-growth with micro-all-inclusive welfare, digital economy and fintech, tech-enabled development, energy transition and climate action

— Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) cover expanded by Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh crore

— Top focus of the budget this year are: PM Gati Shakti, Inclusive Development, Productivity Enhancement, Sunrise Opportunities, Energy Transition, Climate Action, Financing of investments

— Productivity-linked incentive schemes in 14 sectors have received excellent response; received investment intentions worth Rs 30 lakh crore

— Economic recovery benefitting from public investment and capital spending. This Budget will provide impetus to growth

Taxes

— The government will tax income from digital asset transfers at 30%

— No deduction allowed while computing income except cost of acquisition

— Loss cannot be set off from any other income

— Gift of cryptocurrencies to be taxed at receiver's end

— A new provision to allow taxpayers to file an updated return

— Updated return can be filed within two years from the end of the relevant assessment year.

— Alternate Minimum Tax for cooperative societies to be cut to 15%

— Proposal will reduce surcharge on cooperative societies to 7%, for those whose income is between Rs 1 crore and Rs 10 crore

— Tax deduction limit increased to 14% on employers contribution to NPS account of state govt employees

Jobs

— ECLGS extended till March 2023, 60 lakh jobs eyed in next 5 years

— Efforts of central, state governments leading to jobs, entrepreneurial opportunities

— Digital ecosystem for skilling and livelihood to be launched

— This aims to skill, reskill, upskill citizens through online training

— API based skill credentials, payment layers to find relevant jobs and opportunities

Infrastructure

— National highway network to be expanded by 25,000 kms during FY 22-23

— Desh stack e-portal to be launched to promote digital infra

— Strategic transfer of ownership of Air India completed now

— 2,000 kms to be brought under Kavach by FY 22-23

— Four multi-modal national parks contracts will be awarded in FY23

— One product one railway station will be popularised, 400 new Vande Bharat trains to be introduced

— PM Gatishakti masterplan for expressways will be formulated in next financial year

— 100 PM Gati Shakti terminals to be set up in next three years

— Focus on public investment to modernise infrastructure over the medium term, leveraging tech platform of Gati Shakti via a multi-modal approach

— PM Gati Shakti will pull forward the economy and will lead to more jobs and opportunities for the youth

Housing & urban planning

— Rs 48, 000 crore is allotted for PM Awas Yojana

— In 2022-23, 80 lakh houses will be completed for identified beneficiaries of PM Awas Yojana; 60,000 houses will be identified as beneficiaries for PM Awas Yojana in rural & urban areas

— 60,000 crore allocated for providing access to tap water to 3.8 crore households

— In 2022-23, 80 lakh households will be identified for the affordable housing scheme

— A high-level committee for urban planners and economists to be formed for recommendations on urban capacity building, planning implementation, and governance.

— 5 existing academic institutions for urban planning to be designated as Centre for Excellence with endowment fund of Rs 250 cr

— Modern building by-laws will be introduced

— A high-level panel to be set up for urban planning

— Govt to promote use of public transport in urban areas

MSMEs & startups

— Rs 6,000 crore programme to rate MSMEs to be rolled out over 5 years

— MSMEs such as Udyam, e-shram, NCS & Aseem portals will be inter-linked, their scope will be widened

— They will now perform as portals with live organic databases providing G-C, B-C & B-B services such as credit facilitation, enhancing entrepreneurial opportunities

— A fund with blended capital raised under co-investment model facilitated through NABARD to finance startups in agriculture & rural enterprises for farm produce value chain

— Startups will promoted for Drone Shakti

— PE/VC invested Rs 5.5 lakh crore in startup, expert committee will be set up to suggest measures to help attract investment

Agriculture

— Govt to pay Rs 2.37 lakh crore towards procurement of wheat and paddy under MSP operations

— 2022-23 has been announced as International Year of Millets

— Railways will develop new products for small farmers and MSMEs

— A rationalised scheme to increase domestic oilseed production will be brought in to cut down imports

— Kisan Drones for crop assessment, land records, spraying of insecticides expected to drive a wave of technology in agri sector

— Ken Betwa river linking project worth Rs 44,605 crore announced

— Draft DPRs for 5 river links have been finalised

— Finance startups to be incentives to aid rural enterprises

— Natural farming will be promoted along Ganga river corridor

— A completely paperless, e-bill system will be launched by ministries for procurement

— Financial support will be provided to farmers to take up agro-forestry

Electric Vehicles

— Battery swapping policy to allow EV charging stations for automobiles will be framed

— Private sector will be encouraged to create sustainable and innovative business models for battery and energy as a service, improving the efficiency in the EV ecosystem

Education

— States to be encouraged to revise syllabi of agricultural universities to meet needs of natural, zero-budget & organic farming, modern-day agriculture

— One class, one TV channel' program of PM eVIDYA will be expanded from 12 to 200 TV channels

— This will enable all states to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1 to 12

— Digital university to be set up to provide education; to be built on hub and spoke model

— 1-Class-1-TV Channel to be implemented to provide supplementary education to children to make up for loss of formal education due to Covid

Finance & inclusion

— Rs 1 lakh crore financial assistance to states to be provided in 2022-23 to catalyse investments

— Proposed to introduce Digital Rupee by RBI using blockchain technology, starting 2022-23

— Measures will be taken to step up private capital in infra sector

— Digital Rupee to be rolled out by 2023

— 100% of 1.5 lakh post offices will come on the core banking system, enabling financial inclusion and access to accounts through net banking, mobile banking, ATMs, and also provide online transfer of funds between post office accounts and bank accounts

— This will be helpful especially for farmers and senior citizens in rural areas, enabling inter operability, and financial inclusion.

— Low carbon development strategy opens up employment opportunity