Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today presented the last Full Budget for the government ahead of the general elections in 2024. Here’s everything you need to know about #Budget2023:

Key macro announcements:

• Economic growth for the current year is estimated at 7%, the highest among major economies.
• To spend ₹2 lakh crore to provide free food grains for one year, starting Jan 1, 2023, under PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana

Opportunity areas, which the government believes can be transformative:

• Economic Empowerment of Women
• PM VIshwakarma KAushal Samman
• Tourism
• Green Growth

Priority Areas

The government said that it has seven priority areas, which are:

1. Inclusive Development

• Digital Public Infrastructure for Agriculture
• Agriculture Accelerator Fund
• Enhancing productivity of cotton crop
• Atmanirbhar Horticulture Clean Plant Program, the outlay for which will be ₹2,200 crore
• Making India a Global Hub for ‘Shree Anna’
• Raise target for agriculture credit to ₹20 lakh crore
• Investment of ₹6,000 crore under sub-scheme of PM Matsya Sampada Yojana
• To set up 157 new nursing colleges

2. Reaching the Last Mile

• Allotment of ₹15,000 crore for three years for Pradhan Mantri PVTG Development Mission
• Recruitment of 38,800 teachers, support staff for 740 Eklavya Model Residential Schools
• Central assistance of ₹5,300 crore to the Upper Bhadra Project
• Raised outlay for PM Awas Yojana by 66% to ₹79,000 crore

3. Infrastructure and Investment

• Outlay for capital investment to be raised for third year in a row, up by 33% to ₹10 lakh crore
• Effective capital expenditure by the government to be ₹13.7 lakh crore, 4.5% of the GDP
• 50-year interest-free loans to state governments to be continued for another year
• Highest ever outlay for Railways at ₹2.40 lakh crore
• To make ₹10,000 crore available per annum for Urban Infrastructure Development Fund 

4. Unleashing the Potential

• 39,000 compliances reduced and 3,400 legal provisions decriminalized for ease of doing business
• Three centres of excellence for Artificial Intelligence to be set up in top educational institutions
• A National Data Governance Policy to be brought out
• PAN to be common identifier for all digital systems of specified government agencies
• Phase of e-courts to be launched with an outlay of ₹7,000 crore   

5. Green Growth

• Target to annually produce 5 MMT of green hydrogen by 2030 
• Allotment of ₹35,000 crore for priority capital investments for energy transition 
• To establish 500 new ‘waste to wealth’ plants under GOBARdhan (Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan) scheme
• Replacing old polluting vehicles through scrapping

6. Youth Power

• To launch Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0
• To provide stipend support to 47 lakh youth in three years under a pan-India National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme

7. Financial Sector

• To infuse ₹9,000 lakh crore in the credit guarantee scheme for MSMEs, which will help in reducing cost of credit
• Maximum deposit limit for Senior Citizen Savings Scheme to be raised to ₹30 lakh from ₹15 lakh
• Maximum deposit limit for Monthly Income Account Scheme to be raised to ₹9 lakh from ₹4.5 lakh for single account, and to be raised to ₹15 lakh from ₹9 lakh for joint account
• States to be allowed a fiscal deficit of 3.5% of GSDP, of which 0.5% will be tied to reforms in the power sector

Fiscal Deficit numbers:

• FY23 Fiscal deficit seen at 6.4% of the GDP
• FY24 Fiscal Deficit seen at 5.9% of the GDP
• To bring fiscal deficit below 4.5% of GDP by FY26

Borrowings:

• Net market borrowings for FY24 seen at ₹11.8 lakh crore
• Gross market borrowings for FY24 estimated at ₹15.4 lakh crore

Personal tax changes:

• Rebate limit to be raised to ₹7 lakh/year from ₹5 lakh/year under new tax regime
• Tax exemption limit to be raised to ₹3 lakh/year from₹2.5 lakh/year earlier
• Income slabs to be reduced to five from six earlier under the new tax regime
• Benefit of standard deduction to be extended to new tax regime
• Surcharge on highest tax rate to be reduced to 25% from 37% earlier
• Tax exemption limit on leave encashment for non-government salaried employees raised to ₹25 lakh from ₹3 lakh.
• New income tax regime to be the default tax regime