- By Aashish Vashistha
- Wed, 01 Feb 2023 12:10 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
FINANCE MINISTER Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2023 on Wednesday, February 1. This is the fifth consecutive budget presented by her since 2019. This is also the last full-fledged budget of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government ahead of the scheduled 2024 Lok Sabha election.
In the Union Budget 2023, the middle class family may finally get its due as Prime Minister Modi ordered Finance Minister Sitharaman to announce a number of measures to support the economy amid concerns around the world.
The economic growth for the Financial Year 2023 is estimated at 7 per cent. FM Nirmala Sitharaman announced to spend Rs 2200 crore for high value horticulture.
The Budget plans to contribute Rs 15000 crore for the vulnerable tribal group over 3 years.
Education Sector:
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that Eklavya Modern Schools will be made in next three years.
- In addition to the 157 medical colleges established since 2014, 57 new nursing colleges will be established.
- The focus is also given on digital libraries and online education.
Agriculture Sector
- The target for the agriculture credit has been set at Rs 20 lakh crore for the year 2023-24.
- According to the most recent RBI data, non-food bank loan increased by 15.3 per cent in December from a year earlier. Also, In the year 2022, bank credit increased significantly.
Highlights of Budget 2022
The Union Budget 2022 primarily focused on ‘digital and technology’ and sectors like infrastructure, health, education and the provision of e-services to the masses. The Budget laid a foundation and blueprint for the economy over the following 25 years, from India at 75 to India at 100.
Budget 2022 has provided a sharp increase in public investment and capital expenditure provision. The strategic transfer of ownership of Air India has been completed.
Budget Allocation In the year 2022:
- In the Budget 2022, India’s economic growth was estimated at 9.2 per cent which was the highest among all large economies.
- Under the productivity-linked incentive scheme, a target of 60 lacks in new employment creation across 14 industries was given.
- PLI schemes launched to create an additional production of Rs 30 lakh crore.
- The Union Budget 2022 offered encouragement for progress along four priorities including PM GatiShakti, Inclusive Development, Productivity Enhancement & Investment, Sunrise opportunities, Energy Transition, and Climate Action.
MSME Sector
- For the MSME sector, the Union Budget 2022 focused to interlink Udyam, e-ashram, NCS and ASEEM portals.
- The Budget mentioned that additional credit was made available to 130 lakh MSMEs through the Emergency Credit Linked Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS).
Startups
- Focus on Startups was given to facilitate ‘Drone Shakti’ and for Drone-As-A-Service (DrAAS).
Education Sector
- ‘One class-One TV channel’ programme of PM eVIDYA was expanded to 200 TV channels providing major support to the Education sector.
Health Sector
- For the Health Sector, it was promised that an open platform for National Digital Health Ecosystem will be rolled out.
Telecom Sector
- Providing support to the Telecom sector, Budget 2022 announced to implement a scheme for design-led manufacturing will be implemented as part of the Production Linked Incentive Scheme to create a strong 5G ecosystem.
- Union Budget 2022 is projected to have a 6.4 per cent of fiscal deficit in FY23. The revised fiscal deficit was expected to be 6.9 per cent of GDP.