Commuters travel in a train in Mumbai, India, February 1, 2022. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas
February 1, 2022
By Alasdair Pal
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday unveiled the budget for fiscal 2022-23, that aims to boost growth amid continued disruption from COVID-19 and rising inflation.
These are the highlights from Sitharaman’s fiscal 2022-23 budget:
DEFICIT/EXPENDITURE
* Proposes fiscal deficit of 4.5% of GDP by 2025/26
* Projects fiscal deficit of 6.4% of GDP in 2022/23
* Revised fiscal deficit for 2021/22 at 6.9% of GDP
* Total expenditure in 2022/23 seen at 39.45 trillion rupees
* States will be allowed 4% fiscal deficit to GDP in FY23
* 50 year interest free loans over and above normal borrowing allocated to states
* Scheme for financial assistance to states for capital investment outlay to be 1 trillion rupees in 2022/23
TAXATION
* Import duty on certain chemicals are being reduced
* Customs duty exemption on steel scrap to be extended for another year for small- and medium-sized businesses
* Customs duty on stainless steel, flat products, high steel bars to be revoked
* Unblended fuel to get additional duty of 2 rupees per litre from October 2022
FINANCE
* Emergency credit line guarantee scheme for small and medium sized businesses to be extended to March 2023
* Energy transition and climate action will be a major government priority
* Public issue of Life Insurance Corporation expected shortly
* Initiatives from last year’s budget have been provided adequate allocations in this budget
* Special Economic Zones Act to be replaced with new legislation
* To amend bankruptcy code to speed up resolution process
* Aims to lower winding up of companies to 6 months from 2 years currently
* Long term capital gain surcharge to be capped at 15%
DIGITAL CURRENCY
* To launch digital rupee using blockchain technology starting 2022/23
* To launch scheme for taxation of virtual digital assets
* Losses from sale of virtual digital assets cannot be offset against other income
* Income from virtual digital assets to be taxed at 30%
DEFENCE
* Govt committed to reducing defence imports
INFRASTRUCTURE
* 5G spectrum auctions to be conducted in 2022
* Scheme for design-led manufacturing for 5G will be part of production-linked scheme
* To award contracts to lay optical fibre in rural areas, completion in 2025
* 480 billion rupees set aside for affordable housing in 2022/23
* To allocate additional 195 billion rupees for production-linked incentives towards solar equipment manufacturing
AGRICULTURE
* Domestic scheme introduced to reduce dependence on oilseed imports
* Fund with blended capital raised under co-investment model to finance agriculture startups
* Railways to develop infrastructure for small farmers in 2022/23
TRANSPORT
* 400 energy efficient trains to be manufactured over next three years
* National highways network to be expanded by 25,000km in 2022/23
* Highways expansion to cost 200 billion rupees in 2022/23
* India budget: to bring out battery swapping policy
(Compiled by Alasdair Pal; Editing by Euan Rocha)
Source: One America News Network
