Budget at a Glance : Daily Current Affairs

Key Phrases: Financial Inclusion, PM Gatishakti, Amrit Kaal, PLIs, Fiscal Deficit, new Public Sector Enterprise policy, Import Cover

Budget consist of data from 3 years and is subdivided into 4 data
- Actual data of 2 years previous from Budget year (FY 2020-2021)
- Budget estimate (what was presented in last year’s budget) (FY 2021-2022)
- Revised estimate (what changes were observed in the last year’s budget) (FY 2021-2022)
- Budget estimate for the upcoming Financial year (FY 2022-23)
India is celebrating Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav and it has entered into Amrit Kaal, the 25-year-long leadup to India@100, the government aims to attain the vision of Prime Minister outlined in his Independence Day address and they are:
- Complementing the macro-economic level growth focus with a micro-economic level all-inclusive welfare focus,
- Promoting digital economy & fintech, technology enabled development, energy transition, and climate action, and
- Relying on virtuous cycle starting from private investment with public capital investment helping to crowd-in private investment
Productivity Linked Incentive in 14 sectors for achieving the vision of AtmaNirbhar Bharat has received excellent response, with potential to create 60 lakh new jobs, and an additional production of Rs 30 lakh crore during next 5 years
Implementation of the new Public Sector Enterprise policy
- Air India’s strategic transfer of ownership has been completed,
- NINL (Neelanchal Ispat Nigam Limited)’s strategic partner has been selected, the public issue of the LIC is expected shortly and others too are in the process for 2022-23

India’s economy staging a comeback

Growth rate estimated for FY 2022 is 9.2% and that of FY 2022-23 is 8.0 - 8.5%

This hints at V-Shaped recovery
Deficits: In 2022-23
- Fiscal deficit (an indicator of borrowings by the government for financing its expenditure) is targeted at 6.4% of GDP
- Revenue deficit (excess of revenue expenditure over revenue receipts) is targeted at 3.8% of GDP
- Primary deficit (which is fiscal deficit excluding interest payments) in 2021-22 is 2.8% of GDP.
Showcases increase in Employment generation on account of new jobs being created after the conditions were somewhat normalised

Foreign Exchange Reserves touched 634 Bn $ and Import cover touched 12+ months

PM Gatishakti

Driven by 7 engines
- Roads,
- Railways,
- Airports,
- Waterways,
- Ports,
- Mass Transport, and
- Logistics Infrastructure
Formulation of Master Plan for expressways.
- Completing 25000 km national highways in 2022-23
Unified Logistics Interface Platform allowing data exchange among all mode operators
Open Source Mobility Stack for seamless travel of passengers
4 Multimodal Logistics parks through PPP to be awarded in 2022-23
Railway infra
- Integration of Postal and Railways Network facilitating parcel movement
- One Station One Product
- Extending coverage under Kavach
- 400 new generation Vande Bharat Trains
Urban Infra
- Multimodal connectivity between mass urban transport and railway stations
- National Ropeways Development Plan as a sustainable alternative to conventional roads.
- Capacity building for infrastructure Projects

Inclusive Development

Agri and Food Processing
- Promoting chemical free natural farming starting with farmers’ lands close to river Ganga
- Promoting post harvest value addition, consumption and branding of millet products
- Tech in Agriculture
  - Delivery of Digital and Hi-Tech services to farmers in PPP mode.
  - Use of Kisan Drones to aid farmers
  - Launching fund with blended capital to finance agriculture startups
Interlinking of river
- Implementation of Ken Betwa Link Project
  - Benefitting 9.1 lakh hectare farm land,
  - Providing drinking water to 62 lakh people and
  - Generating 130MW power
- 5 more such projects - Damanganga-Pinjal, Par-TapiNarmada, Godavari-Krishna, Krishna-Pennar and Pennar-Cauvery have been finalised
MSMEs
- Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) has provided much-needed additional credit to more than 130 lakh MSMEs to help them mitigate the adverse impact of the pandemic - extended up to March 2023
- Guarantee cover will be expanded by Rs 50,000 crore to total cover of Rs 5 lakh crore, with the additional amount being earmarked exclusively for the hospitality and related enterprises
- Credit Guarantee Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) scheme will be revamped with required infusion of funds. This will facilitate additional credit of Rs 2 lakh crore for Micro and Small Enterprises and expand employment opportunities
- Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance (RAMP) programme with outlay of Rs 6,000 crore over 5 years will be rolled out to make the MSME sector more resilient, competitive and efficient
  - Udyam, e-Shram, NCS and ASEEM portals will be interlinked and their scope will be widened
Education
- One class One TV channel programme to be expanded to 200 TV channels
- Virtual labs and skilling e-labs to promote critical thinking skills and simulated learning environment
- A Digital University will be established with world class quality universal education
- High quality e-content will be delivered through Digital Teachers
Skill Development
- Digital Ecosystem for Skilling and Livelihood (DESH-Stack e-portal) will be launched to promote online training
- Startups will be promoted to facilitate Drone Shakti for Drone-As-A-Service
Health
- National Digital Health Ecosystem will be rolled out
- National Tele Mental Health Programme will be launched for quality counselling
- Integrated architecture: Mission Shakti, Mission Vatsalya, Saksham Anganwadi, and Poshan 2.0 to be launched
- 2 L Anganwadis to be upgraded to Saksham Anganwadis
All inclusive Welfare
- Har Ghar, Nal Se Jal: 3.8 crore households to be covered in 2022-23
- PM Awas Yojana: 80 lakh houses to be completed in 2022-23
- PM-DevINE: To fund infrastructure and social development based on felt needs of the North East
- Aspirational Blocks Programme: For development of lagging blocks of aspirational districts
- Vibrant Villages Programme: Targeting development of villages on the Northern Border left out from the development gains
- Digital Banking by Post Offices: 100% of post offices to come on the core banking system
- Digital Payments: Scheduled Commercial Banks to set up 75 Digital Banking Units in 75 districts

Productivity Enhancement and investment

Ease of Doing business 2.0
- PLIs in 14 sectors and extend support of 5G to them
- Trust based governance
- Expanding scope of PARIVESH Portal (for environmental clearances)
- Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) for IT based management of land records
- Establishing C-PACE to facilitate voluntary winding up of companies
- AVCG promotion task force
- End to end online e-Bill System and utilising surety bonds in government procurement.
- Opening up defence R&D for industry, startups and academia
Ease of Living
- Establishing Centres of Excellence in urban planning
- Providing a battery swapping policy as an alternative to setting up charging stations in urban areas
- Issuance of chip embedded ePassport
- Modernisation of building byelaws, implementing Town Planning Schemes and Transit Oriented Development

Financing Investment

Public investment to continue to pump prime private investment and demand in 2022-23
Introduction of Digital Rupee by RBI starting 2022-23
Capital Expenditure to increase to 35.4% (year-on-year)