147 week ago — 10 min read
Union Budget 2022 was presented in Parliament today by Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman. The budget is the expenditure and revenue forecast by the government for the financial year.
At the outset of her speech, the Finance Minister said that we have entered into Amrit Kaal, the 25-year-long leadup to when India will mark 100 years of Independence. The focus in this period is on:
A significant announcement is the introduction of digital rupee by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) using blockchain technology starting from FY23. The introduction of a central bank digital currency will give a big boost to the digital economy. It will also help in the currency management system.
Here are some of the key highlights of this budget.
Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance (RAMP) programme with outlay of Rs 6,000 crore over 5 years will be rolled out.
A single window portal, PARIVESH, for all green clearances was launched in 2018. It has been instrumental in reducing the time required for approvals significantly. The scope of this portal will now be expanded, to provide information to the applicants. Based on location of units, information about specific approvals will be provided. It will enable application for all four approvals through a single form, and tracking of the process through Centralized Processing Centre-Green (CPC-Green).
The issuance of e-Passports using embedded chip and futuristic technology will be rolled out in 2022-23 to enhance convenience for the citizens in their overseas travel.
400 new generation Vande Bharat trains to be manufactured in next 3 years.
Metro systems, muti-model connectivity
100 Gati Shakti cargo terminals in the next 3 years.
Promote a shift to use of public transport in urban areas. This will be complemented by clean tech and governance solutions, special mobility zones with zero fossil-fuel policy, and EV vehicles. Considering the constraint of space in urban areas for setting up charging stations at scale, a battery swapping policy will be brought out and inter-operability standards will be formulated. The private sector will be encouraged to develop sustainable and innovative business models for ‘Battery or Energy as a Service’. This will improve efficiency in the EV ecosystem.
The Special Economic Zones Act will be replaced with a new legislation that will enable the states to become partners in ‘Development of Enterprise and Service Hubs’. This will cover all large existing and new industrial enclaves to optimally utilise available infrastructure and enhance competitiveness of exports.
Artificial Intelligence, Geospatial Systems and Drones, Semiconductor and its eco-system, Space Economy, Genomics and Pharmaceuticals, Green Energy, and Clean Mobility Systems have immense potential to assist sustainable development at scale and modernize the country. They provide employment opportunities for youth, and make Indian industry more efficient and competitive. Supportive policies, light-touch regulations, facilitative actions to build domestic capacities, and promotion of research & development will guide the government’s approach. For R&D in these sunrise opportunities, in addition to efforts of collaboration among academia, industry and public institutions, government contribution will be provided.
To facilitate domestic manufacturing for the ambitious goal of 280 GW of installed solar capacity by 2030, an additional allocation of Rs 19,500 crore for Production Linked Incentive for manufacture of high efficiency modules, with priority to fully integrated manufacturing units from polysilicon to solar PV modules, will be made.
The pandemic has accentuated mental health problems in people of all ages. To better the access to quality mental health counselling and care services, a ‘National Tele Mental Health Programme’ will be launched. This will include a network of 23 tele-mental health centres of excellence, with NIMHANS being the nodal centre and International Institute of Information Technology-Bangalore (IIITB) providing technology support.
Source: Budget Speech 2022-23
GlobalLinker recently conducted a webinar where a seasoned Chartered Accountant & Tax Expert shared insights on how Budget 2022 impacts MSMEs. Watch the highlights below.
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