Key highlights of Budget 2022-23

New Delhi, Feb 1: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during her Budget address at the Parliament said that 400 new generation Vande Bharat trains with better efficiency to be brought in during the next 3 years; 100 PM Gati Shakti Cargo terminals to be developed during next 3 years and implementation of innovative ways for building metro systems... Moving forward on this parallel track, we lay the following four priorities - PM Gati Shakti, inclusive development, productivity enhancement and investment, sunrise opportunities, energy transition and climate action & financing of investments, she added. Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for achieving Aatmanirbhar Bharat has received an excellent response, with potential to create 60 lakh new jobs and additional production of 30 lakh crore during next Keycap digit five years, said Sitharaman. Procurement of wheat in Rabi season 2021-22 and the estimated procurement of paddy in Kharif season 2021-22 will give cover 1208 lakh metric tonnes of wheat & paddy from 163 lakh farmers& Rs 2.37 lakh crores will be the direct payment of MSP value to their accounts, she said. Chemical-free natural farming will be promoted throughout the country with a focus on farmers' land in 5 km wide corridors along the river Ganga, in the first stage, Sitharaman announced. Other key highlights are: 'One class, one TV channel' program of PM eVIDYA will be expanded from 12 to 200 TV channels. This will enable all states to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1 to 12. PM Gati Shakti Master Plan for Expressways to be formulated in 2022-23, to facilitate faster movement of people and goods. NH network to be expanded by 25,000 km in 2022-23. Rs. 20,000 crores to be mobilized to complement public resources. States will be encouraged to revise syllabi of agricultural universities to meet needs of natural, zero-budget & organic farming, modern-day agriculture. A fund with blended capital raised under co-investment model facilitated through NABARD to finance startups in agriculture & rural enterprises for farm produce value chain. Our govt has comprehensively revamped schemes of the Ministry of Women and Child Development such as Mission Shakti, Mission Vatsalya, Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 to provide benefits, said the Finance Minister. Issuance of E-passports will be ruled out in 2022-23 to enhance convenience for citizens. Use of Kisan Drones to be promoted for crop assessment, digitization of land records, spraying of insecticides and nutrients. Fund to be facilitated through NABARD to finance startups for agriculture and rural enterprise, relevant for farm produce value chain. Startups will support FPOs and provide tech to farmers. 68% of the capital procurement budget for Defence to be earmarked for domestic industry to promote Aatmanirbharta and reduce dependence on imports of defence equipment. This is up from the 58% last fiscal. To reduce the delay in payment, an online bill system to be launched which will be used by all Central ministries. Digital rupee to be issued using blockchain and other technologies; to be issued by RBI starting 2022-23. This will give a big boost to the economy. To provide an opportunity to correct an error, taxpayers can now file an updated return within 2 years from the relevant assessment year. Both Centre and States govt employees' tax deduction limit to be increased from 10% to 14% to help the social security benefits of state govt employees and bring them at par with the Central govt employees. Corporate surcharge to be reduced from 12% to 7%. "I propose to provide that any income from transfer of any virtual digital asset shall be taxed at the rate of 30%. No deduction in respect of any expenditure or allowance shall be allowed while computing such income, except cost of acquisition," announced the Finance Minister.