Indian Economy
Budget 2022-23
- 02 Feb 2022
- 6 min read
For Prelims: Budget and Constitutional Provisions, Initiatives Mentioned in the Budget such as PM GatiShakti, One Station One Product concept, etc., Amrit Kaal, Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.
For Mains: Budget and Constitutional Provisions, Key Highlights of Budget 2022.
Why in News?
Recently, the Minister of Finance presented the Union Budget 2022-23. With this Budget, India has marked the 75 years of Independence through Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.
- Apart from this, the budget also lays down a plan for next 25 years and refers to the same period as Amrit Kaal.
- It has also announced some important measures for taxpayers.
Budget and Constitutional Provisions
- According to Article 112 of the Indian Constitution, the Union Budget of a year is referred to as the Annual Financial Statement (AFS).
- It is a statement of the estimated receipts and expenditure of the Government in a Financial Year (which begins on 1st April of the current year and ends on 31st March of the following year).
- Overall, the Budget contains:
- Estimates of revenue and capital receipts,
- Ways and means to raise the revenue,
- Estimates of expenditure,
- Details of the actual receipts and expenditure of the closing financial year and the reasons for any deficit or surplus in that year, and
- The economic and financial policy of the coming year, i.e., taxation proposals, prospects of revenue, spending programme and introduction of new schemes/projects.
- In Parliament, the Budget goes through six stages:
- Presentation of Budget.
- General discussion.
- Scrutiny by Departmental Committees.
- Voting on Demands for Grants.
- Passing an Appropriation Bill.
- Passing of Finance Bill.
- The Budget Division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance is the nodal body responsible for preparing the Budget.
- The first Budget of Independent India was presented in 1947.
What are the Key Highlights of Budget 2022?
- Growth Rate: India’s economic growth in the current year (2021-22) is estimated to be 9.2% of GDP, the highest among all large economies.
- The revised Fiscal Deficit in the current year is estimated at 6.9% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) as against 6.8% projected in the Budget Estimates.
- The Fiscal Deficit in 2022-23 is estimated at 6.4% of GDP, which is consistent with the broad path of fiscal consolidation announced last year to reach a fiscal deficit level below 4.5% by 2025-26.
- Amrit Kaal: India has entered into Amrit Kaal, the 25-year-long leadup to India@100. During the Amrit Kaal, the government aims to attain the following vision:
- Complementing the macro-economic level growth focus with a micro-economic level all-inclusive welfare focus.
- Promoting digital economy & fintech, technology enabled development, energy transition, and climate action.
- Relying on a virtuous cycle starting from private investment with public capital investment helping to crowd-in private investment.
- Blueprint of Amrit Kaal: Four Priorities:
- Productivity Linked Incentive: 60 lakh new jobs to be created under the productivity linked incentive scheme in 14 sectors.
- Other Major Announcements in Budget:
- Railways: One Station One Product concept to help local businesses & supply chains.
- Parvatmala: It is a National Ropeways Development Program, Parvatmala to be taken up on PPP mode.
- Kisan Drones: For crop assessment, digitization of land records, spraying of insecticides and nutrients.
- MSME: Udyam, e-shram, NCS and ASEEM portals to be interlinked.
- Skill Development: Digital Ecosystem for Skilling and Livelihood (DESH-Stack e-portal) will be launched to empower citizens to skill, reskill or upskill through on-line training.
- Education: ‘One class-One TV channel’ programme of PM eVIDYA to be expanded to 200 TV channels.
- Health: An open platform for the National Digital Health Ecosystem to be rolled out.
- Saksham Anganwadi (New Generation Anganwadi): Integrated benefits to women and children through Mission Shakti, Mission Vatsalya, Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0.
- PM-DevINE: New scheme Prime Minister’s Development Initiative for North-East Region (PM-DevINE) launched to fund infrastructure and social development projects in the North-East.
- Vibrant Villages Programme: Vibrant Villages Programme for development of Border villages with sparse population, limited connectivity and infrastructure on the northern border.
- Sunrise Opportunities: Government contribution to be provided for R&D in Sunrise Opportunities like Artificial Intelligence, Geospatial Systems and Drones, Semiconductor and its eco-system, Space Economy, Genomics and Pharmaceuticals, Green Energy, and Clean Mobility Systems.
- GIFT-IFSC: World-class foreign universities and institutions to be allowed in the GIFT City.
- An International Arbitration Centre to be set up for timely settlement of disputes under international jurisprudence.
- Digital Rupee: Introduction of Digital Rupee by the Reserve Bank of India starting 2022-23.
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