• Notification Date: 01.02.2022
• Notification No: N/A

Highlights of Budget 2022

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced the Budget 2022 today (February 1, 2022). According to her statement, the ministry has tried its best to provide a necessary ecosystem for the middle-class society. The Budget 2022 has been prepared with the purpose of laying the foundation for Amrit Kal from India at 75 to India at 100. This Budget session is the sixth one since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in January 2020. The income tax slabs have been kept unchanged by the government. Some big announcements have been made in the Budget session. Among them, one of the most important announcements is that a 30% tax will be applicable on the transfer of digital assets. Announcements have been made that a new digital rupee will be introduced by the Reserve Bank of India or RBI, using blockchain technology.

The Union Budget 2022 will be declared in a month. In the Union Budget Session, the assembly elections will be held in five states.

Highlights of Budget 2022

1) Long term Capital Gains - Additional 15% surcharge on long term capital gains has been declared.

2) Gross GST Collection - Due to rapid economic recovery, a record amount of Rs.1,40,986 crore of gross GST collection has been possible in January.

3) Income Tax Rates Unchanged - In the new Budget, income tax rates have remained unchanged.

4) GST - According to Nirmala Sitharaman, there has been remarkable progress in GST. But there have been major challenges in the process.

5) Digital Assets Tax – 30% tax rate is applicable on the transfer of digital assets. The gifts available from the digital assets are also taxable. The gifts of digital assets include the income obtained from the sale or acquisition of virtual and digital assets.

6) National Pension Scheme (NPS) – The Finance Minister has demanded parity between the central and state government employees. Tax will be deducted on EPF for the state government employees.

7) Cooperative Societies Tax – The tax rate has been reduced to 15% for cooperative societies.

8) Direct Taxes Voluntary Compliance – The Income Tax Department has taken new initiatives to rectify the errors made by the taxpayers. The file has updated the annual and tax returns within 2 years.

9) Digital Rupee – RBI is going to issue a digital rupee using blockchain and other technologies starting fiscal 2023.

10) Effective Expenditure – The effective expenditure is going to be Rs.10.68 lakh crore. The effective expenditure will be 4.1 per cent of the GDP.

11) Capital Expenditure Raised – The Capital Expenditure has been raised to Rs.7.50 lakh crore from Rs.5.54 lakh crore. The appreciation is at the rate of 35.40%.

12) Defense Allocation – 68% of the capital used for procurement for defence will be for domestic industry.

13) The 4 Pillars – The 4 pillars consist of PM Gati Shakti, inclusive development, energy transition, and financing of investments.

14) Post Offices – For enhancing financial inclusion, all post offices are required to be linked with core banking solutions.

15) Optical Fibre – The ministry has claimed to complete the Bharat Net optical fibre project within 2025.

16) 5G Rollout – Private firms will conduct spectrum auction within 2022-23 to rollout mobile 5G services.

17) New Education Channel – A Class 1 TV Channel is about to be launched to give supplementary education to the children to make up for the loss of education caused due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

18) Social Welfare – Rollout of the land records transliterated in 8 languages will take place.

19) Urban Development – Mass transit, planning help and other support will be provided to states for building urban capacity.

20) New Passports – E-passports will be launched using embedded chips and futuristic technologies.

21) Boost for Digital Payments – There has been a rapid development in digital payments. There should be a vast reach of digital banking across the country. 75 digital banking units will be set up in 75 districts by commercial banks for enhancing this agenda even further.

22) River Linking – Ken-Betwa river linking will be implemented with an approximate cost of Rs.44,605 crore.

23) North-east Infra – Initiatives will be taken for PM development in the northeast with the attempt of funding the infra and social development project.

24) Women and Child Development – Better facilities will be provided to 2 lakh Anganwadis.

25) For Start-ups – Initiatives are being taken by start-ups that are working on various drone technologies to create Drone Shakti.

26) Resilient MSME – Micro and small businesses will be funded with necessary aids under credit guarantee trust that will offer Rs.2 lakh crore more amount for MSMEs.

27) Better Farming – Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has stated that comprehensive packages will be provided for better farming coordinating with the state government.

28) River Water Sharing – The draft detailed project reports for five river water sharing projects have been finalized by the ministry. The Centre will provide support for the implementation of the projects as soon as the consensus reaches the states.

29) Infra Development – 2,000 Km under Kawach program will be introduced. 400 new generation Vande Bharat trains will be launched. 100 PM Gati Shakti cargo terminals will be rolled out and the National Highways will be expanded by 25,000 Km.

30) Minimum Support Price (MSP) – Rs.2.7 lakh crore payment will be made for wheat and paddy as the minimum support price.

Nirmala Sitharaman has stated that the government will strive and overcome the challenges faced due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Budget speech has been started by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the Budget for the fiscal year 2022-23 before the actual presentation. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Railways, Communications and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Parliamentary Affairs Ministers Pralhad Joshi, and other ministers arrived at the Parliament for the Union Cabinet Meeting for attending the Budget presentation.

The world’s largest Covid-19 inoculation program has been started in India on January 16, 2021. The expenditure on the vaccination program will be the most-watched figure in the present Budget as well as in the upcoming one. The Budget allotted for the vaccination expenditure for the present fiscal was Rs.35,000 crore.

The government is yet to reach the targets set in the Budgets for high disinvestments. The Finance Minister has said that the Union Budget would be used as the cornerstone for the accelerated growth of the economy after the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. The government has a target to reach a $5 trillion economy by the year 2025. The capital expenditure allocation is expected to be higher. The healthy tax revenues and mega disinvestment pipeline is estimated to help contain the fiscal deficit to 5% in 2023.

The NGOs have made a recommendation for establishing a separate ministry and special schemes on digital literacy in the Union Budget for the development of the elderly class.