News Highlight
Union Budget 2023-2024 presents a vision for an empowered and inclusive economy for Amrit Kaal-Blue print.
Key Takeaway
- The Finance Minister of India presented the final full-fledged Union Budget (for 2023-24) before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
- The vision for the Amrit Kaal includes a “technology-driven and knowledge-based economy with strong public finances and a robust financial sector”.
Union Budget 2023-2024
- Key Priorities
- The Budget establishes the seven priorities below.
- They work well together and serve as the ‘Saptarishi‘ guiding us through the Amrit Kaal.
- Inclusive Development
- Reaching the Last Mile
- Infrastructure and Investment
- Unleashing the Potential
- Green Growth
- Youth Power
- Financial Sector
Highlights of Budget
- A key theme of Union Budget 2023-24 is the focus on inclusive development – Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, which covers explicitly:
- Farmers, Women, Youth, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Divyangjan (PWDs), and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS).
- Priority is given to the underprivileged in general (vanchiton ko variyata).
- There has also been a consistent focus on the UTs of J&K, Ladakh, and the Northeast Region (NER).
- The Budget follows the two-pronged growth strategy first announced in 2019:
- Incentivising the private sector, thereby creating jobs and driving growth.
- ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’; increasing expenditure while increasing revenues through disinvestment.
- Modifications to the new income tax regime (in rebate limit and in tax slabs).
- A 33% increase in capital investment is proposed, bringing it to Rs 10 lakh crore (the biggest in the past decade).
- Customs duty changes; decreased imports of specific inputs for mobile phone production, shrimp feed, and so on, and increase in cigarettes, gold goods, compounded rubber, and so on.
- The railway capital outlay has reached an all-time high of Rs 2.40 lakh crore.
The Budget’s Vision for Amrit Kaal
- About
- The Finance Minister of India called it the first Budget in Amrit Kaal.
- Amrit Kaal envisions an empowered and inclusive economy that is technology-driven and knowledge-based, with a robust financial sector.
- Visions
- Opportunities for citizens with a focus on Youth.
- Growth and job creation.
- Solid and stable macroeconomic environment.
Transformative opportunities to be capitalised
- Economic Empowerment of Women through SHGs
- PM Vishwakarma KAushal Samman (PM VIKAS)
- Tourism Promotion in Mission Mode
- Green Growth
Economic Empowerment of Women through SHGs
- Noting the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana National Rural Livelihood Mission’s remarkable success in mobilising rural women into 81 lakh Self Help Groups (SHGs).
- India will help these organisations advance to the next level of economic empowerment by forming large producer firms or collectives.
- They will be assisted in obtaining raw materials and improving their products’ design, quality, branding, and marketing.
- They will be able to scale up their operations to serve large consumer markets thanks to supportive policies.
Tourism Promotion in Mission Mode
- Highlighting the country’s enormous tourism potential for both domestic and foreign travellers.
- Tourism has a lot of potential for jobs and entrepreneurship, especially for young people, and it has a lot of potentials.
- Tourism marketing will be carried out on a mission basis, with the active participation of states, the convergence of government programmes, and public-private partnerships.
Green Growth
- The government’s emphasis on green growth initiatives helps reduce the economy’s carbon intensity and creates large-scale green job opportunities.
- The government is implementing numerous green fuel, green energy, green farming, green mobility, green buildings, and green equipment programmes.
- Furthermore, introducing policies for energy efficiency in various economic sectors.
Conclusion
- The Indian Union Budget influences the country’s economic and fiscal policy.
- Budget proposals, tax revisions, and sector allocations indicate the government’s objectives and plans for the coming fiscal year.
- The government’s recent Union Budget for 2023 stressed the government’s emphasis on infrastructure development, healthcare, education, and rural empowerment.
- The budget encourages self-sufficiency and inclusive growth, focusing on digital transformation and job creation.
- While various stakeholders have expressed mixed feelings about the budget, its implementation will determine its actual impact on the Indian economy and the common man.
Pic Courtesy: Banking Finance
Content Source: PIB