India’s economic growth in the current year is estimated to be 9.2 per cent, highest among all large economies. The overall, sharp rebound and recovery of the economy from the adverse effects of the pandemic is reflective of our country’s strong resilience. This was stated by Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Union Budget in Parliament today.
The Finance Minister said, 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.
Since 2014, the government’s focus has been on empowerment of citizens, especially the poor and the marginalized and measures have been taken to provided housing, electricity, cooking gas, and access to water. The government also have programmes for ensuring financial inclusion and direct benefit transfers and a commitment to strengthen the abilities of poor to tap all opportunities.
The Finance Minister informed that the 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. Dwelling on the issue of implementation of the new Public Sector Enterprise policy, She said, the strategic transfer of ownership of Air India has been completed, the strategic partner for NINL (Neelanchal Ispat Nigam Limited) has been selected, the public issue of the LIC is expected shortly and others too are in the process for 2022-23.
Smt Nirmala Sitharaman emphasized that this Budget continues to provide impetus for growth. It lays a parallel track of (1) a blueprint for the Amrit Kaal, which is futuristic and inclusive, which will directly benefit our youth, women, farmers, the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. And (2) big public investment for modern infrastructure, readying for India at 100 and this shall be guided by PM GatiShakti and be benefited by the synergy of multi-modal approach. Moving forward, on this parallel track, She outlined the following four priorities:
- PM GatiShakti
- Inclusive Development
- Productivity Enhancement & Investment, Sunrise Opportunities, Energy Transition, and Climate Action
- Financing of Investments
Elaborating the PM GatiShakti, the Finance Minister said that it is a transformative approach for economic growth and sustainable development. The approach is driven by seven engines, namely, Roads, Railways, Airports, Ports, Mass Transport, Waterways, and Logistics Infrastructure. All seven engines will pull forward the economy in unison. These engines are supported by the complementary roles of Energy Transmission, IT Communication, Bulk Water & Sewerage, and Social Infrastructure. Finally, the approach is powered by Clean Energy and Sabka Prayas – the efforts of the Central Government, the state governments, and the private sector together – leading to huge job and entrepreneurial opportunities for all, especially the youth.
Similarly, PM GatiShakti Master Plan for Expressways will be formulated in 2022-23 to facilitate faster movement of people and goods. The National Highways network will be expanded by 25,000 km in 2022-23 and Rs 20,000 crore will be mobilized through innovative ways of financing to complement the public resources.
She added that contracts for implementation of Multimodal Logistics Parks at four locations through PPP mode will be awarded in 2022-23.
In Railways, the Finance Minister said that ‘One Station-One Product’ concept will be popularized to help local businesses & supply chains. Moreover, 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. She also informed that four hundred new-generation Vande Bharat Trains with better energy efficiency and passenger riding experience will be developed and manufactured and one hundred PM GatiShakti Cargo Terminals for multimodal logistics facilities will be set up during the next three years.
On Agriculture front, the Finance Minister informed that 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. Use of ‘Kisan Drones’ will be promoted for crop assessment, digitization of land records, spraying of insecticides, and nutrients. She said, to reduce dependence on import of oilseeds, a rationalised and comprehensive scheme to increase domestic production of oilseeds will be implemented.
As 2023 has been announced as the International Year of Millets, the government announced full support for post-harvest value addition, enhancing domestic consumption, and for branding millet products nationally and internationally.
Smt Nirmala Sitharaman said, implementation of the Ken-Betwa Link Project, at an estimated cost of Rs 44,605 crore will be taken up aimed at providing irrigation benefits to 9.08 lakh hectare of farmers’ lands, drinking water supply for 62 lakh people, 103 MW of Hydro, and 27 MW of solar power. Allocations of Rs 4,300 crore in RE 2021-22 and Rs 1,400 crore in 2022-23 have been made for this project. Moreover, Draft DPRs of five river links, namely Damanganga-Pinjal, Par-TapiNarmada, Godavari-Krishna, Krishna-Pennar and Pennar-Cauvery have been finalized and once a consensus is reached among the beneficiary states, the Centre will provide support for implementation.
The Finance Minister underlined that the 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. She, however added that the hospitality and related services, especially those by micro and small enterprises, are yet to regain their pre-pandemic level of business and after considering these aspects, the ECLGS will be extended up to March 2023. She informed that its 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.
Similarly, 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. She informed that 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.
Dwelling on the subject of Skill development and Quality Education, the Finance Minister said that 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. In vocational courses, to promote crucial critical thinking skills, to give space for creativity, 750 virtual labs in science and mathematics, and 75 skilling e-labs for simulated learning environment, will be set-up in 2022-23.
She said that due to the pandemic-induced closure of schools, children, particularly in the rural areas, and those from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and other weaker sections, have lost almost 2 years of formal education and mostly, these are children in government schools. Thus to impart supplementary teaching and to build a resilient mechanism for education delivery, the Finance Minister informed that ‘one class-one TV channel’ programme of PM eVIDYA will be expanded from 12 to 200 TV channels and this will enable all states to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1-12.
A Digital University will be established to provide access to students across the country for world-class quality universal education with personalised learning experience at their doorsteps. This will be made available in different Indian languages and ICT formats. The University will be built on a networked hub-spoke model, with the hub building cutting edge ICT expertise. The best public universities and institutions in the country will collaborate as a network of hub-spokes.
