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Sitharaman Lists Seven Priorities To Guide India Through ‘Amrit Kaal’

Opportunity India Desk
Opportunity India Desk Feb 01 2023 - 5 min read
Sitharaman Lists Seven Priorities To Guide India Through ‘Amrit Kaal’
The budget speech was focused on education sector and proposed to recruit 38,000 teachers and support staff for the 740 model Eklavya Model Residential Schools.

Key Takeaways From The Budget 2023-24

Capital outlay of about INR 2.40 lakh crore proposed for railways, highest ever and nine times of what it was in 2013.

50 additional airports, helipads, water aero drones, and advanced landing grounds will be revived for improved air connectivity.

Centre will recruit 38,000 teachers and support staff for the 740 Eklavya Model Residential Schools serving 3.4 lakh tribal students.

National digital library for children and adolescents will be set up to provide quality books across geographies, languages genres and levels, and device-agnostic accessibility.

INR 5,300 crore grants announced for the Upper Bhadra Project in Karnataka.

The government increased the income tax rebate limit from INR 5 lakh to INR 7 lakh in the new tax regime which will now be the default tax regime.

The fiscal deficit target for 2023-24 at 5.9 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The government has proposed to increase the credit target to INR 20 lakh crore with a focus on animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries.

Read In Detail

The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday presented her fifth Union Budget which she termed as “the first budget in Amrit Kaal”, on the second day of Budget Session 2023.

Initiating her budget speech, she listed the seven priority of the Budget including inclusive development, reaching the last mile, infra and investment, unleashing the potential, green growth, youth power and financial sector.

Explaining these priorities, the minister said that the government has always worked towards inclusive growth ensuring the development of the northeast and Jammu and Kashmir. She announced a 66% increase in the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana to over 79,000 crore.

Sitharaman proposed a capital outlay of about INR 2.40 lakh crore for railways which is the highest ever and nine times of what it was in 2013.

The government proposed to increase capital expenditure outlay by 33 per cent to INR 10 lakh crore in 2023-24 which would be 3.3 per cent of the GDP.

“This overall outlay would be 3.3 per cent of GDP, almost three times the outlay made in 2019-20. With the substantial increase, it is central to government's efforts to enhance growth potential and job creation, the crowd in private investments and provides a cushion against global headwinds,” the Minister said while presenting the Budget.

She started her Budget speech at 11 am, the last full Budget of the Modi government in its second term. Like the previous two Union Budgets, Union Budget 2023-24 is also presented in paperless form.

The Minister also announced that 50 additional airports, helipads, water aero drones, and advanced landing grounds will be revived to improve regional air connectivity in the country.

The budget speech was also focused on the education sector that announced a host of important measures for the sector. Sitharaman said that Centre will recruit 38,000 teachers and support staff for the 740 Eklavya Model Residential Schools serving 3.4 lakh tribal students.

She said that teachers’ training will be re-envisioned through innovative pedagogy, curriculum transaction, and continuous professional development dipstick survey and Information and Communication Technology (iCT) implementation.

The minister also announced that a national digital library for children and adolescents will be set up to provide quality books across geographies, languages genres and levels, and device-agnostic accessibility. “State governments will be urged to set up physical libraries at Panchayat and all levels to provide infrastructure for accessing the National Digital Library resources,” the Minister added.

The government has proposed to increase the credit target to INR 20 lakh crore with a focus on animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries. She said that country's agriculture sector has been growing at an average annual growth rate of 4.6 per cent in the last six years.

She pegged the fiscal deficit target for 2023-24 at 5.9 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and said that the government aims to bring the fiscal deficit below 4.5 per cent of the GDP by the financial year 2025-26.

The government increased the income tax rebate limit from INR 5 lakh to INR 7 lakh in the new tax regime which will now be the default tax regime. The Finance Minister also proposed to change the tax structure in this regime by reducing the number of tax slabs to five and increasing the tax exemption limit to INR 3 lakh.

While announcing the personal income tax, she said that tax for income of INR 0- INR 3 lakh will be nil, above INR 3 lakh and up to INR 5 lakh will be five per cent, for income of above INR 6 lakh and up to INR 9 lakh will be 10 per cent and for income above INR 12 lakh and up to INR 15 lakh will 20 per cent and above INR 15 lakh, will 30 per cent.

The Union Minister also announced a grant of INR 5,300 crore for the Upper Bhadra Project in Karnataka. “In the drought-prone central region of Karnataka, central assistance of INR 5,300 crore will be given to Upper Bhadra Project to provide sustainable micro irrigation and filling up of surface tanks for drinking water,” Sitharama said while presenting the Budget in the Parliament.  

The Economic Survey, tabled in the Parliament on Tuesday, noted India’s GDP is expected to grow in the range of 6 to 6.8 per cent in the coming financial year 2023-24. This is in comparison to the estimated 7 per cent this fiscal and 8.7 per cent in 2021-22.

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