Union budget was presented on the 1st of February by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. This budget was different in many ways from the previous budgets. This was the smallest speech by a finance minister in last few years. The speech was different as it had mentioned lot of new technologies and ‘In-things’ which are coming up in the market like blockchain cryptocurrencies, drones, fintech etc. In a sense this budget has taken what the market is discussing and looking forward. One of the features which everyone was eager to know was COVID spending of government which was 35,000 crores in the last budget and has gone up to around 39,000 crores in this budget. One of the major points of discussion post budget was the growth in the economy which was 9.2% for financial year 2022. Deficit which is a very important aspect of the budget was targeted at 6.4% for financial year 2023. Total expenditure is seen at 39.45 lakh crores whereas total receipts and other borrowings are seen at 22.84 lakh crores, the gap between the two is known as the deficit.
One of the issues in this budget was the disinvestment target. The finance minister announced 65000 crores as the target for disinvestment. This was lower than the expectation of the market. Market has expected disinvestment in life insurance corporation of India, this single disinvestment itself is expected to generate revenue more than 1,00,000 crores. The figure of 65,000 crores shows that the government is not looking at life insurance corporation as disinvestment target. Overall, the clarity on disinvestment Bose not in this presented budget.
This budget has highlighted capital expenditure which is being stepped up ₹7.5 lakh crores for financial year 2023. CapEx Is 2.9% of the GDP and effective CapEx is 10.7 lakh crores. This figure highlights the government’s commitment for capital expenditure. In fact, the major highlight of this budget is the capital expenditures and government effort in improving infrastructure. National Highway network will be expanded by 25000 kilometres. 400 new Vande Bharat trains will be manufactured and running in India in next three years. Railway network will also be used to promote local business concept of one station one product is introduced in this budget. There are also plans to develop 100 cargo terminals in next three years. This will improve the local business with the help of railways. This budget focused on infrastructure by PM Gati Shakti which focuses on roads, railways, ports, airports. waterways and logistics infrastructure. One of the important highlights off this budget pause the higher tax collection by the government GST collections for the month of January was more than 1,40,000 crores which is highest since the GST was implemented.
Overall, this union budget Gives a hope after the pandemic and will definitely show a way for a stronger Indian economy.
By Dr. Rudresh Pandey