Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to strike a fine balance between being fiscally prudent and growth supportive when she presents her fourth straight budget on Tuesday, which is expected to have plans to boost spending to revive investment and create jobs.

The Budget for the fiscal year starting April 1, 2022 is likely to raise spending on infrastructure to set the economy on a firmer footing.

Also read: Union Budget 2022: Rs 2.37 lakh crore MSP payment for farmers

The stage for the Budget presentation was set by the Economic Survey stating that the government has the fiscal space to do more to support the economy that is forecast to grow at a healthy 8-8.5 per cent growth in the 2022-23 fiscal.

Also read: India Union Budget 2022 Railways: 400 Vande Bharat trains to be introduced

Here are the key highlights of the ongoing Budget Session:

  • Budget seeks to lay the Blue print to steer the economy over the next 25 years from India at 75 to India at 100
  • Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has started her Budget speech by remembering all those lives that were lost owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • India is expected to grow at 9.27 per cent.
  • Strong vaccination campaign helped to tackle omicron wave
  • Strategic transfer of ownership of Air India has been completed. Public issue of LIC is expected shortly
  • 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 and paddy from 163 lakh farmers
  • Make in India to create 6 million new jobs
  • ‘One class, one TV channel’ program of PM eVIDYA will be expanded from 12 to 200 TV channels.
  • States to be encouraged to revise syllabi of agricultural universities to meet needs of natural, zero-budget and organic farming, modern-day agriculture.
  • Ministry of Women and Child Development such as Mission Shakti, Mission Vatsalya, Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 to provide benefits
  • Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) will be extended up to March 2023
  • Issuance of E-passports will be rolled out in 2022-23 to enhance convenience for citizens
  • 2,000 km of rail network to be brought under the indigenous world-class technology KAWACH
  • 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
  • 68% of the capital procurement budget for defence to be earmarked for domestic industry
  • Implementation of Ken Betwa Linking project at estimated cost of Rs 44,605 Crore to be taken up with irrigation benefits to 9.0 lakh hectare farmland
  • Effective Capital Expenditure of the central government is estimated at Rs 10.68 lakh crores in 2022-23
  • Additional allocation of Rs 19,500 crore for PLI for manufacturing of high-efficiency modules with priority to fully integrate manufacturing units to solar PV modules will be made
  • Digital rupee to be issued using blockchain and other technologies; to be issued by RBI starting 2022-23
  • For 2022-23,allocation is Rs 1 lakh crore to assist the states in catalysing overall investments in economy
  • Taxpayers can now file an updated return within 2 years from the relevant assessment year
  • Rs 48,000 crores allocated for completion of construction of 80 lakh houses under PM Awas Yojana in rural and urban areas in the year 2022-23
  • Both Centre and States government employees’ tax deduction limit to be increased from 10 percent to 14 percent to help the social security benefits of state government employees
  • Corporate surcharge to be reduced from 12 percent to 7 percent
  • Any income from transfer of any virtual digital asset shall be taxed at the rate of 30 percent
  • The gross GST collections for the month of January 2022 are Rs 1,40,986 crores which is the highest since the inception of GST
  • Customs duty on cut and polished diamonds, gems to be reduced to 5 percent
  • No change in Income Tax slabs