India - Union Budget 2022-2023

1. The scope of PM GatiShakti National Master Plan will encompass the seven engines for economic transformation, seamless multimodal connectivity and logistics efficiency. It will also include the infrastructure developed by the state governments as per the GatiShakti Master Plan. The 4 focus will be on planning, financing including through innovative ways, use of technology, and speedier implementation. 
2. The projects pertaining to these 7 engines in the National Infrastructure Pipeline will be aligned with PM GatiShakti framework. The touchstone of the Master Plan will be world-class modern infrastructure and logistics synergy among different modes of movement – both of people and goods – and location of projects. This will help raise productivity, and accelerate economic growth and development. 

1. Railways will develop new products and efficient logistics services for small farmers and Small and Medium Enterprises, besides taking the lead in integration of Postal and Railways networks to provide seamless solutions for movement of parcels. 
2.  ‘One Station-One Product’ concept will be popularized to help local businesses & supply chains. 5 
3.  As a part of Atmanirbhar Bharat, 2,000 km of network will be brought under Kavach, the indigenous world-class technology for safety and capacity augmentation in 2022-23. Four hundred new-generation Vande Bharat Trains with better energy efficiency and passenger riding experience will be developed and manufactured during the next three years. 
4. One hundred PM GatiShakti Cargo Terminals for multimodal logistics facilities will be developed during the next three years. 

1.  The procurement of wheat in Rabi 2021-22 and the estimated procurement of paddy in Kharif 2021-22 will cover 1208 lakh metric tonnes of wheat and paddy from 163 lakh farmers, and ` 2.37 lakh crore direct payment of MSP value to their accounts. 
2.  Chemical-free Natural Farming will be promoted throughout the country, with a focus on farmers’ lands in 5-km wide corridors along river Ganga, at the first stage. 
3.  2023 has been announced as the International Year of Millets. Support will be provided for post-harvest value addition, enhancing domestic consumption, and for branding millet products nationally and internationally. 
4.  To reduce our dependence on import of oilseeds, a rationalised and comprehensive scheme to increase domestic production of oilseeds will be implemented.
5.  For delivery of digital and hi-tech services to farmers with involvement of public sector research and extension institutions along with private agri-tech players and stakeholders of agri-value chain, a scheme in PPP mode will be launched.
6. Use of ‘Kisan Drones’ will be promoted for crop assessment, digitization of land records, spraying of insecticides, and nutrients. 
7.  States will be encouraged to revise syllabi of agricultural universities to meet the needs of natural, zero-budget and organic farming, modern-day agriculture, value addition and management.
8.  A fund with blended capital, raised under the co-investment model, will be facilitated through NABARD. This is to finance startups for agriculture & rural enterprise, relevant for farm produce value chain. The activities for these startups will include, inter alia, support for FPOs, machinery for farmers on rental basis at farm level, and technology including IT-based support. 

Ken Betwa project and Other River Linking Projects  

1.  Udyam, e-Shram, NCS and ASEEM portals will be interlinked. Their scope will be widened. They will now perform as portals with live, organic databases, providing G2C, B2C and B2B services. These services will relate to credit facilitation, skilling, and recruitment with an aim to further formalise the economy and enhance entrepreneurial opportunities for all. 
2.  Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) has provided much-needed additional credit to more than 130 lakh MSMEs. This has helped them mitigate the adverse impact of the pandemic. The hospitality and related services, especially those by micro and small enterprises, are yet to regain their pre-pandemic level of business. Considering these aspects, the ECLGS will be extended up to March 2023 and its guarantee cover will be expanded by ` 50,000 crore to total cover of ` 5 lakh crore, with the additional amount being earmarked exclusively for the hospitality and related enterprises.
3.  Credit Guarantee Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) scheme will be revamped with required infusion of funds. This will facilitate additional credit of ` 2 lakh crore for Micro and Small Enterprises and expand employment opportunities. 
4.  Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance (RAMP) programme with outlay of ` 6,000 crore over 5 years will be rolled out. This will help the MSME sector become more resilient, competitive and efficient. Skill Development 
5.  Skilling programmes and partnership with the industry will be reoriented to promote continuous skilling avenues, sustainability, and employability. The National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) will be aligned with dynamic industry needs. 
6.  Digital Ecosystem for Skilling and Livelihood – the DESH-Stack eportal – will be launched. This aims to empower citizens to skill, reskill or upskill through on-line training. It will also provide API-based trusted skill credentials, payment and discovery layers to find relevant jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities. 
7. Startups will be promoted to facilitate ‘Drone Shakti’ through varied applications and for Drone-As-A-Service (DrAAS). In select ITIs, in all states, the required courses for skilling, will be started.  

Universalization of Quality Education 

• In recent years, over 25,000 compliances were reduced and 1486 Union laws were repealed. This is the result of our government’s strong commitment for ‘minimum government & maximum governance’, our trust in the public, and ease of doing business (EODB). 
• For the Amrit Kaal, the next phase of Ease of Doing Business EODB 2.0 and Ease of Living, will be launched. In our endeavour to improve productive efficiency of capital and human resources, we will follow the idea of ‘trust-based governance’. 
• This new phase will be guided by an active involvement of the states, digitisation of manual processes and interventions, integration of the central and state-level systems through IT bridges, a single point access for all citizen-centric services, and a standardization and removal of overlapping compliances. Crowdsourcing of suggestions and ground level 12 assessment of the impact with active involvement of citizens and businesses will be encouraged. 

• By the time of India @ 100, nearly half our population is likely to be living in urban areas. To prepare for this, orderly urban development is of critical importance. This will help realize the country’s economic potential, including livelihood opportunities for the demographic dividend. For this, on the one hand we need to nurture the megacities and their hinterlands to become current centres of economic growth. On the other hand, we need to facilitate tier 2 and 3 cities to take on the mantle in the future. This would require us to reimagine our cities into centres of sustainable living with opportunities for all, including women and youth. For this to happen, urban planning cannot continue with a business-as-usual approach. We plan to steer a paradigm change. 
• A high-level committee of reputed urban planners, urban economists and institutions will be formed to make recommendations on urban sector policies, capacity building, planning, implementation and governance. 

• For urban capacity building, support will be provided to the states. Modernization of building byelaws, Town Planning Schemes (TPS), and Transit Oriented Development (TOD) will be implemented. This will facilitate reforms for people to live and work closer to mass transit systems. 13 The Central Government’s financial support for mass transit projects and AMRUT scheme will be leveraged for formulation of action plans and their implementation for facilitating TOD and TPS by the states. 
• For developing India specific knowledge in urban planning and design, and to deliver certified training in these areas, up to five existing academic institutions in different regions will be designated as centres of excellence. These centres will be provided endowment funds of ` 250 crore each. In addition, AICTE will take the lead to improve syllabi, quality and access of urban planning courses in other institutions.

•  Efficient use of land resources is a strong imperative. States will be encouraged to adopt Unique Land Parcel Identification Number to facilitate IT-based management of records. The facility for transliteration of land records across any of the Schedule VIII languages will also be rolled out. 
• The adoption or linkage with National Generic Document Registration System (NGDRS) with the ‘One-Nation One-Registration Software’ will be promoted as an option for uniform process for registration and ‘anywhere registration’ of deeds & documents. 

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code

Necessary amendments in the Code will be carried out to enhance the efficacy of the resolution process and facilitate cross border insolvency resolution.

• Government rules have recently been modernized for the needs the Amrit Kaal. The new rules have benefitted from the inputs from various stakeholders. The modernised rules allow use of transparent quality criteria besides cost in evaluation of complex tenders. Provisions have been made for payment of 75 per cent of running bills, mandatorily within 10 days and for encouraging settlement of disputes through conciliation.
• As a further step to enhance transparency and to reduce delays in payments, a completely paperless, end-to-end online e-Bill System will be launched for use by all central ministries for their procurements. The system will enable the suppliers and contractors to submit online their digitally signed bills and claims and track their status from anywhere. 
• To reduce indirect cost for suppliers and work-contractors, the use of surety bonds as a substitute for bank guarantee will be made acceptable in government procurements. Business such as gold imports may also find this useful. IRDAI has given the framework for issue of surety bonds by insurance companies.

• Telecommunication in general, and 5G technology in particular, can enable growth and offer job opportunities. Required spectrum auctions will be conducted in 2022 to facilitate rollout of 5G mobile services within 2022- 23 by private telecom providers. 
• A scheme for design-led manufacturing will be launched to build a strong ecosystem for 5G as part of the Production Linked Incentive Scheme. 
• To enable affordable broadband and mobile service proliferation in rural and remote areas, five per cent of annual collections under the Universal Service Obligation Fund will be allocated. This will promote R&D and commercialization of technologies and solutions.
• Our vision is that all villages and their residents should have the same access to e-services, communication facilities, and digital resources as urban areas and their residents. The contracts for laying optical fibre in all villages, including remote areas, will be awarded under the Bharatnet project through PPP in 2022-23. Completion is expected in 2025. Measures will be taken to enable better and more efficient use of the optical fibre. 

• Our Government is committed to reducing imports and promoting AtmaNirbharta in equipment for the Armed Forces. 68 per cent of the capital procurement budget will be earmarked for domestic industry in 2022-23, up from 58 per cent in 2021-22. 
• Defence R&D will be opened up for industry, startups and academia with 25 per cent of defence R&D budget earmarked. Private industry will be encouraged to take up design and development of military platforms and equipment in collaboration with DRDO and other organizations through SPV model. An independent nodal umbrella body will be set up for meeting wide ranging testing and certification requirements.  

Sunrise Opportunities 

Energy Transition and Climate Action 

Solar Power

Circular Economy

 Transition to Carbon Neutral Economy 

• Capital investment holds the key to speedy and sustained economic revival and consolidation through its multiplier effect. Capital investment also helps in creating employment opportunities, inducing enhanced demand for manufactured inputs from large industries and MSMEs, services from professionals, and help farmers through better agri-infrastructure. The economy has shown strong resilience to come out of the effects of the pandemic with high growth. However, we need to sustain that level to make up for the setback of 2020-21.
• As outlined in para 5 earlier, the virtuous cycle of investment requires public investment to crowd-in private investment. At this stage, private investments seem to require that support to rise to their potential and to the needs of the economy. Public investment must continue to take the lead and pump-prime the private investment and demand in 2022-23.
• Considering the above imperative, the outlay for capital expenditure in the Union Budget is once again being stepped up sharply by 35.4 per cent from ` 5.54 lakh crore in the current year to ` 7.50 lakh crore in 2022-23. This has increased to more than 2.2 times the expenditure of 2019-20. This outlay in 2022-23 will be 2.9 per cent of GDP. 

• Supplemental funding for priority segments of PM Gram Sadak Yojana, including support for the states’ share, 
•  Digitisation of the economy, including digital payments and completion of OFC network, and 
•  Reforms related to building byelaws, town planning schemes, transit-oriented development, and transferable development rights. 

1. As against a total expenditure of ` 34.83 lakh crore projected in the Budget Estimates 2021-22, the Revised Estimate is ` 37.70 lakh crore. The Revised Estimate of capital expenditure is ` 6.03 lakh crore. This includes an amount of ` 51,971 crore towards settlement of outstanding guaranteed liabilities of Air India and its other sundry commitments.
2.  Coming to the Budget Estimates, the total expenditure in 2022-23 is estimated at ` 39.45 lakh crore, while the total receipts other than borrowings are estimated at ` 22.84 lakh crore. 
3. The revised Fiscal Deficit in the current year is estimated at 6.9 per cent of GDP as against 6.8 per cent projected in the Budget Estimates. The Fiscal Deficit in 2022-23 is estimated at 6.4 per cent of GDP, which is consistent with the broad path of fiscal consolidation announced by me last year to reach a fiscal deficit level below 4.5 per cent by 2025-26. While setting the fiscal deficit level in 2022-23,