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Budget 2023-2024

The budget for 2023-24 is the first Budget in Amrit Kaal (76th to 100th year of independence). Budget is the blueprint for India@100 with an aim to develop a Prosperous and inclusive India.

 

To ensure free food grains and nutritional security, a scheme to supply free food grain to all Antyodaya and priority households for the next year, under PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) from 1 January 2023. The entire expenditure of about ` 2 lakh crore will be borne by the Central Government.

India’s achievement:

  • Government ensured all citizens a better quality of living and a life of dignity with the per capita income becoming more than doubled to 1.97 lakh.

  • From 2014, the Indian economy has increased in size from being 10th to 5th largest in the world. 

  • Steps for the formalisation of economy 

    • EPFO membership more than doubling to 27 crore.

    • 7,400 crore digital payments of126 lakh crore through UPI in 2022.  

  • Schemes for inclusive development:

    • 11.7 crore household toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission

    • 9.6 crore LPG connections under Ujjawala

    • 220 crore Covid vaccination of 102 crore persons

    • 47.8 crore PM Jan Dhan bank account

    • Insurance cover for 44.6 crore persons under PM Suraksha Bima and PM Jeevan Jyoti Yojana, 

    • Cash transfer of 2.2 lakh crore to over 11.4 crore farmers under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi.

  • Global: India has gained G20 Presidency giving India a unique opportunity to strengthen its role in the world economic order with the theme of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.

 

7 Priorities highlighted in the Budget:

  1. Inclusive Development 

  2. Reaching the Last Mile

  3. Infrastructure and Investment

  4. Unleashing the Potential

  5. Green Growth

  6. Youth Power 

  7. Financial Sector

 

1st Priority: Inclusive Development 

  • Agriculture and Cooperation  

    • Digital Public Infrastructure for Agriculture

      • It will be built as an open source, open standard and inter-operable public good to enable inclusive, farmer-centric solutions through relevant information services for crop planning and health, improved access to farm inputs, credit, and insurance, help for crop estimation, market intelligence, and support for the growth of agri-tech industry and start-ups. 

    • Agriculture Accelerator Fun

      • It will be set up to encourage agri-startups by young entrepreneurs in rural areas.

      • Aim: to develop innovative and affordable solutions for challenges faced by farmers. 

      • It will also induce in modern technologies to transform agricultural practices and increase productivity and profitability.

    • Enhancing the productivity of cotton crop 

      • To improve the productivity of extra-long staple cotton, a cluster-based and value chain approach through Public Private Partnerships (PPP) will be launched

    • Atmanirbhar Horticulture Clean Plant Program 

      • It will be launched to boost the availability of disease-free, quality planting material for high-value horticultural crops at an outlay of  2,200 crores.

    • Global Hub for Millets: ‘Shree Anna’

      • India is the largest producer and second largest exporter of millet in the world.

      • To make India the global hub for millets, the Indian Institute of Millet Research, Hyderabad will be supported as the Centre of Excellence for sharing best practices, research and technologies at the international level.   

    • Agriculture Credit 

      • The total agriculture credit target will be increased to 20 lakh crore with a focus on animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries. 

  • Fisheries

    • A new sub-scheme of PM Matsya Sampada Yojana with a targeted investment of 6,000 crores will be launched.

    • Aim: To enable activities of fishermen, fish vendors, and micro and small enterprises, improve value chain efficiencies, and expand the market.

  • Cooperation

    •  A national cooperative database is being prepared for country-wide mapping of cooperative societies. 

    • For farmers, especially small and marginal farmers, and other marginalised sections, the government is promoting a cooperative-based economic development model. 

    • To realise the vision of ‘Sahakar Se Samriddhi’ the government has already initiated the computerisation of 63,000 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) with an investment of ` 2,516 crores.

    • The government will also facilitate the setting up of a large number of multipurpose cooperative societies, primary fishery societies and dairy cooperative societies in uncovered panchayats and villages in the next 5 years. 

  • Health, Education and Skilling

    • Medical & Nursing Colleges  

      • 157 new nursing colleges will be established in co-location with the existing 157 medical colleges established since 2014.

    • Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission

      • To eliminate Sickle cell mission by 2047 will be launched. It will focus on 

        • awareness creation, 

        • universal screening of 7 crore people in the age group of 0-40 years in affected tribal areas,

        • counselling through collaborative efforts of central ministries and state governments. 

    • Medical Research 

      • To facilitate the research  of public and private medical college faculty and private sector R&D teams, facilities in select ICMR Labs will be made to encourage collaborative research and innovation.

    • Pharma Innovation 

      • To promote research and innovation, pharmaceutical centres of excellence will be created. 

      • Industry will be encouraged to invest in research and development in specific priority areas. 

    • Multidisciplinary courses for medical devices

      • Dedicated multidisciplinary courses for medical devices will be supported in existing institutions.

      • Aim: To ensure the availability of skilled manpower for futuristic medical technologies, high-end manufacturing and research.  

  • National Digital Library for Children and Adolescents 

    • A National Digital Library for children and adolescents will be set up for facilitating the availability of quality books.

    • States will be encouraged to set up physical libraries for them at panchayat and ward levels.

 

Priority 2: Reaching the Last Mile

  • Aspirational Districts and Blocks Programme

    • Recently, the Government has recently launched the Aspirational Blocks Programme covering 500 blocks for saturation of essential government services across multiple domains such as health, nutrition, education, agriculture, water resources, financial inclusion, skill development, and basic infrastructure.

  • Pradhan Mantri PVTG Development Mission

    • It will be launched to improve the socio-economic conditions of the particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) with an outlay of  15,000 crores in the next 3 years under the Development Action Plan for the Scheduled Tribes.

    •  Objective of the mission is to saturate PVTG families and habitations with basic facilities 

  • Eklavya Model Residential Schools

    • In the next 3 years, the centre will recruit 38,800 teachers and support staff for the 740 Eklavya Model Residential Schools which in turn will serve 3.5 lakh tribal students.

  • Water for Drought Prone Region

    • Central assistance of ` 5,300 crores will be given to Upper Bhadra Project (Karnataka) to provide sustainable micro irrigation and filling up of surface tanks for drinking water will be provided.

  • Bharat Shared Repository of Inscriptions (Bharat SHRI)

    • It will be set up in a digital epigraphy museum, with the digitization of one lakh ancient inscriptions in the first stage.  

  • Support for poor prisoners

    • Required financial support will be provided for poor prisoners.

 

Priority 3: Infrastructure & Investment

  • Capital Investment as a driver of growth and jobs

    • Capital investment outlay is increased for the third year in a row by 33 per cent to 10 lakh crore (3.3 per cent of GDP). This will be almost three times the outlay in 2019-20.  

    • Aim: 

      • to enhance growth potential and job creation, 

      • crowd-in private investments

      • provide a cushion against global headwinds.

  • Effective Capital Expenditure 

    • Direct capital investment is complemented by the provision made for the creation of capital assets through Grants-in-Aid to States. 

    • The ‘Effective Capital Expenditure’ of the Centre will be 13.7 lakh crore, which will be 4.5 per cent of GDP.   

  • Support to State Governments for Capital Investment

    • The 50-year interest-free loan to state governments will continue for another year with an enhanced outlay of 1.3 lakh crore.  

  • Enhancing opportunities for private investment in Infrastructure

    • Infrastructure Finance Secretariat (new setup) will assist all stakeholders with more private investment in infrastructure which is predominantly dependent on public resources. 

  • Railways

    • A highest-ever outlay capital outlay of 2.40 lakh crore (9 times the outlay made in 2013-14. ).

  • Logistics

    • 100 critical transport infrastructure projects, for last and first-mile connectivity for ports, coal, steel, fertilizer, and food grains sectors will be set up on priority with an investment of  75,000 crores, including 15,000 crores from private sources.

  • Regional Connectivity

    • 50 additional airports, heliports, water aerodromes and advanced landing grounds will be revived.

  • Sustainable Cities of Tomorrow

    • States and cities will be encouraged to transform our cities into ‘sustainable cities of tomorrow’ by

      • efficient use of land resources, 

      • adequate resources for urban infrastructure, 

      • transit-oriented development, 

      • enhanced availability and affordability of urban land, and 

      • opportunities for all. 

  • Making Cities ready for Municipal Bonds

    • cities will be incentivized to improve their credit worthiness for municipal bonds through property tax governance reforms and ring-fencing user charges on urban infrastructure.

  • Urban Infrastructure Development Fund 

    • It will be established through the use of priority sector lending shortfall. 

    • It will be managed by the National Housing Bank.

    • It will be used by public agencies to create urban infrastructure in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. 

    • Financing: states from the grants of the 15th Finance Commission and existing schemes, the centre will contribute 10,000 crores per annum.

  • Urban Sanitation

    • Cities and towns: 100 per cent mechanical desludging of septic tanks and sewers to transition from manhole to machine-hole mode. 

    • The enhanced focus will be provided for the scientific management of dry and wet waste.

 

Priority 4: Unleashing the Potential: Good Governance

  • iGOT Karmayogi

    • The government has also launched an integrated online training platform, iGOT Karmayogi, under Mission karmayogi.

    • Aim: to provide continuous learning opportunities for lakhs of government employees to upgrade their skills and facilitate a people-centric approach.  

  • Ease of doing business,

    • more than 39,000 compliances have been reduced 

    • More than 3,400 legal provisions have been decriminalised. 

    • Jan Vishwas Bill to amend 42 Central Acts. 

  • Centres of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence

    • Three centres of excellence for Artificial Intelligence will be set up in top educational institutions (for Make AI in India and Make AI work for India). 

    • Leading industry players will partner in conducting interdisciplinary research, and develop cutting-edge applications and scalable problem solutions in the areas of agriculture, health, and sustainable cities

  • National Data Governance Policy

    • A National Data Governance Policy will be released to unleash innovation and research by start-ups and academia & enable access to anonymized data.

  • One stop solution for identity and address updating

    • A one-stop solution for reconciliation and updating of identity and address of individuals maintained by various government agencies, regulators and regulated entities will be established using DigiLocker service and Aadhaar as foundational identity.   

  • Common Business Identifier  

    • For the business establishments that required PAN, the PAN will be used as the common identifier for all digital systems of specified government agencies. 

  • Unified Filing Process

    • Unified Filing Process’ will be set up (simplified forms on a common portal, which will be shared with other agencies as per the filer’s choice).

    • Thus, the need for separate submission of the same information to different government agencies will be done away with. 

  • Vivad se Vishwas I – Relief for MSMEs 

    • If MSMEs failed to execute contracts during the Covid period, 95 per cent of the forfeited amount relating to bid or performance security, will be returned to them by government and government undertakings. 

  • Vivad se Vishwas II – Settling Contractual Disputes 

    • A voluntary settlement scheme with standardized terms will be introduced, to settle contractual disputes of government and government undertakings, wherein arbitral award is under challenge in a court.

  • E-Courts 

    • Phase-3 of the E-Courts project will be launched for efficient administration of justice.

  • Fintech Services

    • Fintech services in India have been facilitated by our digital public infrastructure including Aadhaar, PM Jan Dhan Yojana, Video KYC, India Stack and UPI.

  • Entity DigiLocker 

    • An Entity DigiLocker will be set up for use by MSMEs, large businesses and charitable trusts. 

  • 5G Services

    • 100 labs for developing applications using 5G services will be set up in engineering institutions to realise a new range of opportunities such as smart classrooms, precision farming, intelligent transport systems, and health care applications. 

  • Lab Grown Diamonds

    • Lab Grown Diamonds (LGD) is a technology-and innovation-driven emerging sector with high employment potential. 

    • They have optically and chemically the same properties as natural diamonds.

    • A research and development grant will be provided to one of the IITs for five years for indigenous development of these.

 

Priority 5: Green Growth

“LiFE”, or Lifestyle for Environment, to spur a movement of an environmentally conscious lifestyle. 

Net-zero carbon emission by 2070 to usher in green industrial and economic transition. 

  • Green Hydrogen Mission

    • Recently National Green Hydrogen Mission was launched with an outlay of ` 19,700 crores.

    •  Target is to reach an annual production of 5 MMT by 2030. 

  • Energy Transition

    • Budget allocated 35,000 crores for priority capital investments towards energy transition and net zero objectives and energy security by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas. 

  • Energy Storage Projects

    • Viability gap funding will be provided to steer the economy on the sustainable development path, Battery Energy Storage Systems with a capacity of 4,000 MWH.

  • Renewable Energy Evacuation

    • The Inter-state transmission system for evacuation and grid integration of 13 GW of renewable energy from Ladakh will be constructed.

  • Green Credit Programme

    • a Green Credit Programme will be notified under the Environment (Protection) Act to encourage behavioural change, for sustainable and responsive actions by companies, individuals and local bodies.

  • PM-PRANAM

    • PM Programme for Restoration, Awareness, Nourishment and Amelioration of Mother Earth” will be launched.

    • Aim: to incentivize States and Union Territories to promote alternative fertilizers and balanced use of chemical fertilizers.

  • GOBARdhan scheme

    • 500 new ‘waste to wealth’ plants under GOBARdhan (Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan) scheme will be established for promoting a circular economy. 

    • It includes 200 compressed biogas (CBG) plants (75 plants in urban areas) and 300 community or cluster-based plants. 

    • In the due process a 5 per cent CBG mandate will be introduced for all organizations marketing natural and biogas.

  • Bhartiya Prakritik Kheti Bio-Input Resource Centres 

    • In the next 3 years, 1 crore farmers  will be incentivized to adopt natural farming. 

    • 10,000 Bio-Input Resource Centres will be set up, creating a national-level distributed micro-fertilizer and pesticide manufacturing network. 

  • MISHTI

    • ‘Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes’, MISHTI, will be taken up for mangrove plantation along the coastline and on salt pan lands, wherever feasible, through convergence between MGNREGS, CAMPA Fund and other sources.

  • Amrit Dharohar

    • Now the total number of Ramsar sites in our country has increased to 75.

    • Amrit Dharohar, a scheme that will be implemented over the next three years to encourage optimal use of wetlands, and enhances bio-diversity, carbon stock,
      eco-tourism opportunities and income generation for local communities. 

  • Coastal Shipping

    • Coastal shipping will be promoted as the energy-efficient and lower cost mode of transport, both for passengers and freight, through PPP mode with viability gap funding.  

 

Priority 6: Youth Power

  • Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0

    • It will be launched to skill lakhs of youth within the next three years.  

    • On-job training, industry partnership, and alignment of courses with the needs of the industry will be emphasized. 

    • It will also cover new-age courses for Industry 4.0 like coding, AI, robotics, mechatronics, IOT, 3D printing, drones, and soft skills. 

    • To skill the youth for international opportunities, 30 Skill India International Centres will be set up across different States. 

  • Skill India Digital Platform

    • Unified Skill India Digital platform will be launched to

      • enable demand-based formal skilling, 

      • link with employers including MSMEs, and

      • facilitate access to entrepreneurship schemes. 

  • National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme

    • Direct Benefit Transfer under a pan-India National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme will be rolled out.

  • Tourism

    • At least 50 destinations will be selected through challenge mode aspects like physical connectivity, virtual connectivity, tourist guides, high standards for food streets and tourists’ security would be made available on an App to enhance the tourist experience. 

    • Sector specific skilling and entrepreneurship development to achieve the objectives of the ‘Dekho Apna Desh’ initiative.

    •  For the integrated development of theme-based tourist circuits, the ‘Swadesh Darshan Scheme’ was also launched. 

    • Under the Vibrant Villages Programme, tourism infrastructure and amenities will also be facilitated in border villages. 

  • Unity Mall

    • States will be encouraged to set up a Unity Mall in their state capital or most prominent tourism centre or the financial capital for the promotion and sale of their own ODOPs (one district, one product), GI products and other handicraft products. 

Priority 7: Financial Sector

  • Credit Guarantee for MSMEs

    • the revamped scheme announced last year  will take effect from 1st April 2023 through the infusion of 9,000 crores in the corpus. 

    • This will enable additional collateral-free guaranteed credit of 2 lakh crore. Further, the cost of the credit will be reduced by about 1 per cent.    

  • National Financial Information Registry

    • A national financial information registry will be set up as the central repository of financial and ancillary information. 

    • Aim: To facilitate the efficient flow of credit, promote financial inclusion, and foster financial stability.

  • Financial Sector Regulations 

    • To simplify, ease and reduce the cost of compliance, financial sector regulators will be requested to carry out a comprehensive review of existing regulations.

  • GIFT IFSC: To enhance business activities in GIFT IFSC

    • Delegating powers under the SEZ Act to IFSCA to avoid dual regulation,

    • Setting up a single window IT system for registration and approval from IFSCA, SEZ authorities, GSTN, RBI, SEBI and IRDAI, 

    • Permitting acquisition financing by IFSC Banking Units of foreign banks, 

    • Establishing a subsidiary of EXIM Bank for trade. 

  • Data Embassy

    • Data Embassies in GIFT IFSC will be set up for countries looking for digital continuity solutions.

  • Improving Governance and Investor Protection in Banking Sector

    • To improve bank governance and enhance investors’ protection, certain amendments to the Banking Regulation Act, the Banking Companies Act and the Reserve Bank of India Act are proposed.

  • Capacity Building in Securities Market

    • SEBI will be empowered to develop, regulate, maintain and enforce norms and standards for education in the National Institute of Securities Markets and to recognize awards of degrees, diplomas and certificates.

  • Central Data Processing Centre 

    • A Centre will be set up for faster response to companies through centralized handling of various forms filed with field offices under the Companies Act.

  • Reclaiming of shares and dividends 

    • For investors to reclaim unclaimed shares and unpaid dividends from the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority with ease, an integrated IT portal will be established.

  • Digital Payments 

    • Digital payments show an increase of 76 per cent in transactions  and 91 per cent in value in 2022.

    • Fiscal support for this digital public infrastructure will continue in 2023-24. 

  • Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav Mahila Samman Bachat Patra 

    • A one-time new small savings scheme, Mahila Samman Savings Certificate, will be made available for a two-year period up to March 2025.

    • It will offer a deposit facility of up to 2 lakh in the name of women or girls for a tenor of 2 years at a fixed interest rate of 7.5 per cent with a partial withdrawal option. 

  • Senior Citizens

    • The maximum deposit limit for Senior Citizen Savings Scheme will be enhanced from 15 lakh to  30 lakh.

    • The maximum deposit limit for Monthly Income Account Scheme will be enhanced from 4.5 lahks to 9 lahks for a single account and from 9 lahks to ` 15 lakh for joint account.

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