By Shivangini Jangra
ABSTRACT:–
Budget is profoundly known as the expression that intended expenditure along with the proposals to meet them with resources, the budget will express the surplus, providing resources for use at a future time. The first budget of Independent India was presented in 1947, As in India the Union Budget under Article 112 of the Indian Constitution, is presented by Finance Minister Every year which is known as ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT (AFS). There are three kind of budget which estimated as Surplus Budget, Balanced Budget and Deficit Budget. In concrete manner Union Budget is the estimated receipts and expenditure of the Government in a financial Year (beginning from 1st April of the current year and ends on 31st March of the following year. The Union budget of Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2023-2024 in Parliament on 1st of FEB.2023 which highlights the overall aspects of Indian Economy as the Indian Economy has increased in size from being 10th to 5th largest in the world in the past nine years.
It include Presentation of Budget, General Discussion, Scrutiny by Departmental Committees, Voting on Demands for Grants, Passing an Appropriation Bill, Passing of Financial Bill etc. the Budget division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance is the nodal body responsible for preparing the Budget.
SAPTARISHI (SEVEN PRIORITIES)
SAPTARISHI are Inclusive development reaching the Last mile, Infrastructure and Investment , Unleashing the Potential , Green Growth , youth power and Financial Sector in description below:-
Inclusive development:-
The Union Government’s Philosophy of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas has facilitated inclusive development covering in specific farmers, women, youth, OBC’s Scheduled Caste, Tribe, Divyangjan and economically weaker sections and overall priority for the underprivileged. It includes:-
· AGRICULTURE COPERATION –
– It includes digital public infrastructure for agriculture through open relevant information services for crops.
– Agriculture Accelerator fund to encourage Agri- Start Ups by young entrepreneurs in rural areas.
– Enhancing productivity of cotton crop to enhance the productivity of extra-long staple cotton.
– Atmanirbhar Horticulture Clean plant Programme to boost the availability of diseases free, quality planting material.
– SHREE ANNA global Hub for Millets, as India is the largest global market for shree anna in the World, to make India a global hub for Shree Anna (RAGI, JOWAR, BAJRA ETC.) with the help and support of Indian Institute of Millet Research Hyderabad.
– Agriculture Credit for dwelling on welfare of Farmers, new sub-scheme of PM Matsya Sampada Yojana with targeted investment of Rs 6,000 crore to further enable activities of fishermen.
· EDUCATION AND SKILLING-
– It include Revamped Teachers training via District Institutes of Education and Trainings.
– National Digital Library to be setup for Children and adolescents.
– States will be encouraged to set up physical libraries at Panchayat and ward Levels.
· HEALTH :-
o 157 new nursing colleges will be established in co-location with the existing 157 medical colleges established since 2014.
o A Mission to eliminate Sickle Cell Anaemia by 2047 will be launched.
2nd Priority – Reaching the last mile
– It include different kind of programmes which includes:-
Aspirational Districts and Blocks Programme
· On the success of the Aspirational Districts Programme, the Government has recently launched the Aspirational Blocks Programme covering 500 blocks for saturation of essential government services across multiple domains such as health, nutrition, education, agriculture, water resourcesetc.
Pradhan Mantri PVTG Development Mission-
- To improve socio-economic conditions of the particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs), Pradhan Mantri PVTG Development Mission will be launched.
Water for Drought Prone Region- In the drought prone central region of Karnataka, central assistance of Rs 5,300 crore will be given to Upper Bhadra Project to provide sustainable micro irrigation and filling up of surface tanks for drinking water etc.
- PM Awas Yojana- The outlay for PM Awas Yojana is being enhanced by 66 per cent to over Rs 79,000 crore. ‘Bharat Shared Repository of Inscriptions’ will be set up in a digital epigraphy museum, with digitization of one lakh ancient inscriptions in the first stage.
- A ‘Bharat Shared Repository of Inscriptions (Bharat SHRI)’ will be set up in a digital epigraphy museum, with digitization of 1 lakh ancient inscriptions in the first stage.
Priority 3 Infrastructure and Investment:
This sector include overall infrastructure development goals which increases the capex for infrastructure-
– It include incentives to boost investment in infrastrucutre and Productive Capacity with rise in growth and employment.
– Continuation of 50 year interest free loan to state Governments to incentives and infrastructure investment.
– Highest ever Capital outlay of Rs. 2.4 Lakh for Railways.
– 100 transport infrastructure projects identified for end-to-end connectivity for ports, coal, steel, fertilizer sectors.
– Creating Urban Infrastructure in Tier 2 and 3 cities via establishment of UIDF.
Priority 4:- Unleashing the Potential
INCREASE EASE OF DOING BUSSINESS:-
- For enhancing ease of doing business, more than 39,000 compliances have been reduced and more than 3,400 legal provisions have been decriminalized.
- For furthering the trust based governance, Government has introduced the Jan Vishwas Bill to amend 42 Central Acts.
Centres of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence
· For realizing the vision of “Make Artificial Intelligence in India and Make A-I work for India”, three centers of excellence for Artificial Intelligence will be set-up in top educational institutions.
National Data Governance Policy –:
· To unleash innovation and research by start-ups and academia, a National Data Governance Policy will be brought out, which will enable access to anonymised data.
· An Entity Daglocked will be set up for use by MSMEs, large business and charitable trusts for storing and sharing documents online securely.
- On 5G Services, one hundred labs for developing applications using 5G services will be set up in engineering institutions to realize a new range of opportunities, business models, and employment potential.
- Phase-3 of the E-Courts project to be launched with an outlay of Rs. 7,000 crore for efficient administration of justice.
- R & D grant for Lab Grown Diamonds (LGD) sector to encourage indigenous production of LGD seeds and machines and to reduce import dependency.
Priority 5: Green Growth
- “LiFE”, or Lifestyle for Environment, to initiate a movement for environmentally conscious lifestyle.
- India is moving forward firmly for the ‘panchamrit’ and net-zero carbon emission by 2070 to usher in green industrial and economic transition.
- This Budget builds on the focus on green growth. The recently launched National Green Hydrogen Mission, with an outlay of Rs 19,700 crores, will facilitate transition of the economy to low carbon intensity, reduce dependence on fossil fuel imports, and make the country assume technology and market leadership in this sunrise sector. The target is to reach an annual production of 5 MMT by 2030.
- “PM Programme for Restoration, Awareness, Nourishment and Amelioration of Mother Earth” (PM-PRANAM) to be launched to incentivize States and Union Territories to promote alternative fertilizers and balanced use of chemical fertilizers.
- Green Credit Programme to be notified under the Environment (Protection) Act to incentivize and mobilize additional resources for environmentally sustainable and responsive actions.
- Amrit Dharohar scheme to be implemented over the next three years to encourage optimal use of wetlands, enhance bio-diversity, carbon stock, eco-tourism opportunities and income generation for local communities.
GOBARDHAN SCHEME –
- Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman announced that 500 new ‘waste to wealth’ plants under GOBARDHAN (Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan) scheme will be established for promoting circular economy.
· In due course, a 5 per cent CBG mandate will be introduced for organizations marketing natural and bio gas and for collection of bio- mass and distribution of bio-manure, appropriate fiscal support will be provided.
Bhartiya Prakritik Kheti Bio-Input Resource Centres
· The Finance Minister announced that over the next 3 years, the Centre will facilitate one crore farmers to adopt natural farming.
· The vehicle scrapping policy mentioned in Budget 2021-22, she has allocated adequate funds to scrap old vehicles of the Central Government and States will also be supported in replacing old vehicles and ambulances.
Priority 6: Youth Power
- The Finance Minister said that to empower the youth and help the ‘Amrit Peedhi’ realize their dreams, Government has formulated the National Education Policy, focused on skilling, adopted economic policies that facilitate job creation at scale, and have supported business opportunities.
- It include National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme which support 47 lakh youth in three years.
- Tourism – Unity Mall states will be encouraged to set up a UNITY MALL in their states or capital or most prominent tourism centre and generate financial capital for promotion and sale of their own One District One Product, GI and other Handicraft product.
Priority 7:- Financial Sector
Financial sector is the core sector to run an economy smoothly and union budget 2023 implemented different changes as follows:-
Credit Guarantee for MSMEs –
The revamped scheme of Credit Guarantee for MSMEs will take effect from 1st April 2023 through infusion of Rs 9,000 crore in the corpus. This will enable additional collateral-free guaranteed credit of Rs 2 lakh crore.
National financial information registry will be set up to serve as the central respiratory of financial and ancillary information. This will facilitate efficient flow of credit, promote financial inclusion, and foster financial stability.
For Senior Citizens scheme will be enhanced from Rs 15 lakh to 30 lakh it announce the maximum deposit limit for senior citizen savings scheme.
Fiscal Management
Fifty-year loan to states – An entire fifty-year loan to states has to be spent on capital expenditure within 2023-24.
- Scrapping old government vehicles,
- Urban planning reforms and actions,
- Financing reforms in urban local bodies to make them, creditworthy for municipal bonds
- Housing for police personnel above or as part of police stations,
- Constructing Unity Malls,
- Children and adolescents’ libraries and digital infrastructure and
- State share of capital expenditure of central schemes.
Budget Estimates for 2023-2024-
o Total estimated receipts (excluding borrowings): Rs 27.2 lakh crore,
o Total estimated expenditure: Rs 45 lakh crore.
· Net tax receipts: Rs 23.3 lakh crore.
o Fiscal deficit: 5.9% of GDP.
· To finance the fiscal deficit in 2023-24, the net market borrowings from dated securities are estimated at Rs 11.8 lakh crore.
· The gross market borrowings are estimated at Rs 15.4 lakh crore.
o Also, the government is committed to sticking to this plan to reduce the fiscal deficit to below 4.5% by 2025-26.
Personal Income Tax
This year tax proposal impose and simplify the indirect tax to deliver for Higher Export, Domestic Manufacturing, More value addition in economy and green energy and Mobility etc.
DIRECT TAX PROPOSALS:-
GREEN MOBILITY:-
To avoid cascading of taxes on blended compressed natural gas, excise duty on GST-paid compressed bio-gas contained in it has been exempted from excise duty.
Electronics –
It deepen domestic value addition in manufacture of mobile phones, duty on certain parts including camera lens and open cells .
Electricals:–
The Budget also proposes changes in the basic customs duty to rectify inversion of duty structure and encourage manufacturing of electrical kitchen chimneys.
Chemical and petrochemical:-
· Denatured ethyl alcohol has been exempted from basic customs duty.
· Duty is being reduced on key inputs for domestic manufacture of shrimp feed in marine products.
· Basic customs duty on seeds used in the manufacture of Lab Grown Diamonds.
· The import duty on silver dore, bars and articles has been increased to align them with that on gold and platinum. Increase custom duties on articles from Gold and Platinum.
· The basic customs duty rate on compounded rubber has been increased.
· National Calamity Contingent Duty on specified cigarettes has been revised upwards by about 16%.
IT Return Form
- It stipulates a plan to strengthen the grievance redressal mechanism for direct taxes.
- Deployment of about 100 Joint Commissioners for disposals of small appeals in direct tax matters
MSME’S AND START UPS
- Describing MSMEs as growth engines of our economy, the Budget proposes enhanced limits for micro enterprises and certain professionals for availing the benefit of presumptive taxation.
- The Budget proposes to extend the date of incorporation for income tax benefits to start-ups from 31.03.2023 to 31.03.2024.
Amendments in CGST Act
- The Budget provides for amending the CGST Act so as to raise the minimum threshold of tax amount for launching prosecution under GST from ₹ 1 crore to ₹ 2 crore, except for the offence of issuance of invoices without supply of goods.
- The compounding amount will be reduced from the present range of 50 to 150% of tax amount to the range of 25 to 100%.
Comparison between 2022-23 and 2023-2024 Union Budget:-
As Union Budget has touched the core sector this year which somewhere lacking and disappoints on inclusive development issues in 2022-2023 which are as follows:-
Climate Change and Environmental Concerns:-
The climate change is an untouched issue in union budget 2022-2023, as waste management has no incentives and de carbonisation was little touched this year in Union Budget 2023-24.
MISHTI (MANGROVE INITIATIVE FOR SHORELINE HABITAT & TANGIBLE INCOME) –
MISHTI is to facilitate Mangrove plantation along India’s coast line and salt pan lands. Mangroves are not just some of the most bio-diverse locations in India, they also protect the coastlines from the vagaries of inclement weather.
PM PRANAM – The Full Form of PM PRANAM is”Prime Minister Programme for Restoration, Awareness, Nourishment and Amelioration of Mother Earth”. It will seek to incentivise states and union territories promoting alternative fertilisers and the balanced use of chemical fertilisers.
Amrit Dharohar – Amrit Dharohar is a Central Government Scheme to protect wetlands, declared in Union Budget 2023-24. Amrit Dharohar will be implemented over the next three years to encourage optimal use of wetlands, and enhance bio-diversity, carbon stock, eco-tourism opportunities and income generation for local communities. Amrit Dharohar will emphasise on the importance of wetlands and their preservation, with an outlook that is inclusive of local communities.
Bio-Input Resource Centres– In Union Budget 2023-24 declared that Bio-Input Resource Centres will be developed across the country. To further facilitate the adoption of “natural farming,” 10,000 Bio-Input Resource Centres will be set-up, creating a national-level distributed micro-fertiliser and pesticide manufacturing network.
PERSONAL INCOME TAX REFORMATION:-
It include the rebate on Personal Income tax those with income upto Rs 7 lakh don’t have to pay any income tax.
Major changes in Personal income tax:-
· The tax structure in the new personal tax regime has been changed by reducing number of slabs to five and increasing the tax exemption limit to ₹ 3 lakh. This will provide major relief to all taxpayers in the new regime.
· The benefit of standard deduction has been extended to the salaried class and the pensioners including family pensioner under the new tax regime.
· The highest surcharge rate in personal income tax has been reduced from 37% to 25% in the new tax regime for income above ₹2 crore.
· The limit of tax exemption on leave encashment on retirement of non-government salaried employees has been increased from ₹3 lakh to ₹25 lakh.
· The new income tax regime has been made the default tax regime.
Railways
· A capital outlay of Rs 2.40 lakh crore has been provided for the Railways. This highest ever outlay is about 9 times the outlay made in 2013-14. One hundred critical transport infrastructure projects, for last and first mile connectivity for ports, coal, steel, fertilizer, and food grains sectors have been identified
· They will be taken up on priority with investment of Rs 75,000 crore, including Rs 15,000 crore from private sources.
- Fifty additional airports, heliports, water aerodromes and advance landing grounds will be revived for improving regional air connectivity.
Temporary Employment:-
Infrastructure development leads only to temporary employment and in the context of migratory unemployment that saw people dying on railway platforms and highways, literally starving during the first Covid-19 lockdown, and their returning to work, there are no clues about migrant workers.
Crypto Currency Legitimacy:-
The Budget legitimised the illegal crypto currency that has the potential for killing the monetary stability of the large population by taxing 30% of those assets. It will also lead to a more efficient and cheaper currency management system.”
NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY NEGLECTED:-
The National Education Policy demands at least 4-5% of allocation for the education sector but it ended up with less than 2%. The pandemic led to several uncertainties in education — a mix of institutional and digital education WE need more growth and development in education sector to implement the NEP efficiently.
Health Sector :
Even we have seen calamity like pandemic we are lacking somewhere in delivery of vaccine and Improvement in health infra. It didn’t even get 6% percent allocation this year. India has one of the lowest rates of health insurance penetration in the world due to a lack of awareness, limited reach, and lack of education. Many people end up spending a significant portion of their income on healthcare. In order to boost health insurance penetration, enhance accessibility, and make it more affordable, the Government was expected to prioritise the health insurance sector in the Union Budget 2023-24 and take
Uncertainty in Jobs sector:-
Employment had a serious setback due to the pandemic. Employment expectations on account of infrastructure projects under the PPP model will be project-driven and not stability and security for the persons employed. Fifty lakh persons to be employed in such projects and services sector would be a mythical figure. The Budget is hollow here.
Difficulty in Doing business:-
· The ‘One Station One Product’ concept is laudable as a souvenir shop will help generate business and spread awareness about local art and craft.
· To establish a globally competitive business environment for certain domestic companies, a concessional tax regime of 15% was introduced by the government for newly incorporated domestic manufacturing companies.
Conclusive Remarks:
World community has seen drastic changes at the time of pandemic and country need a far sighted efficient growth to tackle with the impacts over economic development. The Budget proposes for 2023-2024 lacking in Health and insurance sector, somewhere it also lacking behind for enhancement in New Education Policy, it was seemed as an non futuristic, opportunistic , anti- people and Anti poor budget because there is nothing for unemployment, Inflation or price rise said by opposition , as per complied opinion and overview we can say that union budget 2023-2024 is lacking behind with some core issues but it is a stepping stone as climate change and Environment provided good coverage with boosting initiatives and futuristic value so that we can Protect, Preserve and procure our Mother Earth.