Union Budget for 2022-23: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for 2022-23 in Parliament on 1st February 2022 in a paperless format just like the last year.

Key Facts:

• Finance Minister Sitharaman’s Budget for the fiscal year beginning April 2022 (FY2022-23) is the Modi government's 10th straight Budget since 2014 (including one interim Budget presented ahead of general elections in 2019).
• She has presented 4 budgets and this is her second successive paperless budget.
• The Finance Minister, in her Budget 2022-23 speech said that India is marking Azadi ka AmritMahotsav, and has entered into AmritKaal, the 25-year-long lead up to India@100.
• She declared that India would report an economic growth of 9.5%, which would be the highest among all economies.

Key Highlights of the Budget 2022-23:

• This year’s budget is laying foundation for the beginning of 25 years to India’s 100 years of Independence in 2047, termed as Amritkaal.
• The Budget to focuses on four pillars  namely productivity, climate action, financing investments and PM Gati Shakti plan.
• 400 new generations Vande Bharat trains with better efficiency to be brought in and 100 PM Gati Shakti Cargo terminals to be developed during next 3 years
• ECLGS to be extended till March 2023. The guaranteed cover will be expanded by Rs 50,000 crores to total cover of Rs 5 lakh crores to aid MSME sector financing needs
• Draft DPRs for 5 river links Damanganga-Pinjal, Par- Tapi-Narmada, Godavari-Krishna, Krishna-Pennar & Pennar-Kaveri have been finalized. Once consensus is reached among beneficiary states, centre will provide support for implementation
• 5G spectrum auction to be conducted in 2022 for rollout of 5G telecom services by private players in FY 2022-23
• To facilitate domestic manufacturing for ambitious goal of 280 GW of installed solar capacity by 2030, additional allocation of Rs 19,500 cr 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. This will give a big boost to the economy
• Income tax relief to cooperative societies with reduction in rate of surcharge from 12% to 7% for income upto Rs 10 crores
• Taxpayers can now file an updated return within 2 years from the relevant assessment year
• Income from virtual digital assets brought under tax net. Gaines taxable at 30% without any deduction except cost of acquisition
• Both Centre and States govt employees’ tax deduction limit to be increased from 10% to 14% to help the social security benefits of state govt employees and bring them at par with the Central govt employees
• Capital expenditure outlay being stepped up sharply by 35.4% from Rs 5.54 lakh crore in CY to Rs 7.50 lakh crore in 2022-23. Outlay in 2022-23 will be 2.9% of the GDP

About Union Budget:

• The “Annual Financial Statement” is commonly known as Budget.
• However, the term Union Budget has not been mentioned in the constitution.
• This annual financial statement is prepared in accordance with Article 112 of the Constitution of India.
• The Union Budget comprises Capital Budget, Revenue Budget, Expenditure Budget, and this also has the next fiscal year's estimates.
• In 2016, the Rail Budget was also merged with union budget.
• The Capital Budget part of the Union Budget has accounts for capital payment and receipts which are government-related.
• Until 1999, the Union Budget was announced at 5:00 pm on last working day February but since the Budget 1999, the timing was changed to 11 am.
• In 2016, Narendra Modi shifted the date of Budget presentation to February, 1.
• The printing of budget documents starts with the customary Halwa ceremony in which the Halwa is served by the Finance Minister.
• The tradition of carrying budget in a leather briefcase was also changed in July 2019 when the finance minister carried the budget in a Bahi-Khata.

Note: The Union Budget is being presented in a paperless format since 2021. 

What is Halwa Ceremony?

• Halwa ceremony has been a tradition which has continued for long. As part of the ritual, a sweet dish or Indian dessert ‘halwa’ is prepared in a big ‘kadhai’ (vessel) and served to the officials of the Finance Ministry and support staff, who are directly involved in the Budget making and printing process.
• In a bid to prevent the leak of information, the officials are required to stay in the ministry and remain cut off from their families till the presentation of the Budget by the finance minister in the Lok Sabha.
• The ceremony also recognizes and lauds the efforts of every staff who have been a part of the budget-making process.