Highlights of the 2023 budget: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitamaran presented her fifth budget today, February 1, 2023. Many important announcements have been made in this year’s budget. In order to promote taxpayers and the economy, Sitharaman has made major changes to the tax slab under the new tax regime. Along with this, she announced a big boost to women, railways, farmers and infrastructure. Let’s take a look at the highlights of the 2023 Budget…
1. Big relief for taxpayers: Taxpayers get the most relief in the budget. The government has made a big announcement regarding income tax in its budget speech. According to the budget discourse, now The new tax regime will become the default tax regime. In the new tax regime, there will be no income tax up to Rs 7 lakh per year.
2. Special Savings Regime for Women: The government has introduced a special regime for women in the budget. She has been named Mahila Samman Bachat Yojana. Under this scheme, the government will grant 7.5% interest for women under it.
3. 38,800 teachers will be hired: In the next 3 years, 38,800 teachers and support staff will be recruited in 740 Eklavya schools in the country. 3.5 lakh tribal students are studying in these schools. The scheme helps make residential schools run for tribal students.
4. Cigarette prices will rise, mobile electric vehicles will become cheaper: In his speech today, the Minister of Finance said that customs duties will be exempted for the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries. Apart from this, the basic rate of customs duties will be reduced from 21 to 13, except for textiles. At the same time, the customs duty on gold and silver was increased. That means more money will have to be spent on imported jewelry in the future. Apart from this, the prices of cigarettes will increase. Mobiles and toys will be cheaper. Electric vehicles will also be cheaper.
5. The poor will have their own house: In the budget speech, a big announcement has been made for the lower class people. To fulfill the dream of every household, the government has increased PM housing spending to Rs 79,000 crore. PM housing spending has increased by 67%.
6. Great Gift for Seniors: The government has increased the maximum deposit limit of the Senior Citizens Saving Scheme (SCSS) to Rs 30 lakh. At the same time, the Post Office Monthly Income Scheme has been increased to Rs 9 lakh for individual accounts and Rs 15 lakh for joint accounts.
7. PAN card becomes a unique identity card: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has proposed using the PAN card as a common identifier for all digital systems across all government agencies. The move is expected to simplify the KYC process and make it easier for the Department of Income Tax and other government agencies to manage documents for PAN cardholders.
8. Big announcements for the agricultural sector: The Finance Minister said in the budget speech that new agricultural enterprises will be established to promote agriculture, for which the youth will be encouraged. An agricultural fund will be created for this. This will help farmers find innovative and affordable solutions. By using modern techniques, farmers will be able to get more benefits. He said that taking into account animal husbandry, dairy and fishery, it has been decided to increase the agriculture budget to 20 lakhs. The Finance Minister said that Rs 2,200 crore would be spent on quality, disease-free planting material through the Atmanirbhar Clean Plant scheme.
9. The government will bring the second phase of the Vivad se Vishwas scheme: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday that the government will launch the second phase of the ‘Vivad se Vishwas’ program to resolve trade disputes. She said a comprehensive solution to reconcile disputes and update people’s identities would also be implemented. Provisions have been made for the resolution of disputes related to taxes, interest, penalties and fees under the ‘Vivad se Samadhan’ scheme. Under this, the business entity can resolve the dispute by paying 100 percent of the disputed tax and 25 percent of the disputed penalty or interest or fee.
10. The government will spend Rs 10 lakh on infrastructure: In the budget for the year 2023-24, it was announced to increase infrastructure spending by 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh. It represents 3.3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).
Read the full details of the 2023 budget here
latest full government budget
Let us tell you that this is the last full budget of the Narendra Modi government. Actually, the Lok Sabha elections will take place in the year 2024. The government’s interim budget will come in February 2024 just before this election. Generally, the government does not make any political decisions in the provisional budget. However, populist ads are definitely made.
What is the benefit of income tax, read the full budget speech here