Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today presented the Union Budget 2023, the 5th and 75th budget of the country. Sitharaman assured the nation that the economy is on the right track and moving towards a bright future.
Income Tax exemption limit increased after 8 years
Now income tax will not have to be paid on earning up to Rs 7 lakh annually. This exemption will be available only under the new tax regime. Still there will be 2 options for filing income tax return. Till now the income up to Rs 2.5 lakh was tax free. The last time the income tax slabs were changed in the 2014-15 budget.
Saptarshi of the budget
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the seven bases of the budget. They have been called Saptarshi.
1. Inclusive growth,
2. Preference to the underprivileged,
3. Infrastructure and investment,
4. Capacity expansion,
5. Green growth,
6. Youth power,
7. Financial sector.
Know the key announcement made in the budget
No tax on income up to Rs 7 lakh a year. Govt proposes to increase income tax rebate limit from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7 lakh in new tax regime.
Free food grains will be available for one more year under Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana
5G Service: 100 labs will be set up in engineering institutes to develop apps running on this 5G service. New opportunities, business models and employment possibilities will be created through these labs.
Senior Citizens: The limit of the amount to be kept in the savings account will be increased from Rs 4.5 lakh to Rs 9 lakh. Citizen Savings scheme maximum investment limit has been increased from 15 lakh to 30 lakh.
Digilocker and Aadhar will be used as a one-stop solution addressing KYC needs.
New Infrastructure: 157 new Nursing Colleges to be opened along with existing 157 Medical Colleges that have been established since 2014. 50 new airports, helipads and water aerodrome centers will be built.
Credit guarantee for MSMEs Rs 9000 crores infused in the corpus which will allow additional collateral-free credit of Rs 2 lakh crores; to be effective from 1st April 2023
50 tourist destinations will be selected through challenge mode to be developed as a whole package for domestic and international tourism.
Railways: A budget of Rs 2.40 lakh crore has been given. Investment expenditure is being increased by 33% to Rs 10 lakh crore.
The Centre would recruit 38,800 teachers and staff for Eklavya Model Residential Schools smoking cigarettes would become costlier as they would be taxed at a higher bracket.
Nirmala Sitharaman said the government’s aim is to reduce the fiscal deficit to below 4.5% by 2025.
Women: Samman Savings Letter scheme will start. In this, women will get 7.5% interest annually on savings of Rs 2 lakh. Mahila Samman Saving Certificate to be launched for a two-year period.
PM Awas Yojana: There has been a 66% increase in the budget. The sector has now become worth Rs 79 thousand crore.
The Government proposes to increase the agricultural credit target to Rs 20 lakh crore with a focus on animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries.
Under the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), over 89,151 projects worth Rs 141.4 lakh crore are under various stages of implementation.
What is cheap, what is expensive
Cheap
Import duty reduced on goods used to make lithium-ion batteries
Custom duty on open sale parts of TV panels reduced from 5% to 2.5%
Custom duty reduced on some parts for mobile phone manufacturing
Duty reduced on seed used in manufacturing of lab-grown diamonds
Government to reduce custom duty on shrimp feed to boost exports
Custom duty on Crude Glycerine reduced from 7.5% to 2.5%
Custom Duty Exempted From Cleaning Agent Denatured Ethyl Alcohol
Costly
Natural Calamity Contingent Duty (NCCD) on cigarettes increased by 16%
Duty increased on goods made of gold bars and platinum
Duty increased on silver and its articles
Duty on compounded rubber increased from 10% to 25%
Custom duty increased on silver items
Custom duty on kitchen electric chimney increased from 7.5% to 15%
Sitharaman arrived with the budget in a red colored tablet. The country’s first paperless budget was presented. Paperless budget had already been introduced in 3 states of the country, Himachal (2015), Odisha (2020) and Haryana (2020).
