THE UNION

BUDGET
2023
 KEY HIGHLIGHTS

Hon’ble Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman

proudly presented Budget 2023 as the first
budget of Amrit Kaal.

Amrit Kaal refers to the next 25 years leading to

the centenary of India's independence with a
vision of an empowered and inclusive economy.

India is currently the 5th largest economy and

has a projected growth trajectory of 7%.

India’s Per Capita Income has doubled to over

1.97 lakhs.

Our nation has been recognised as a bright

star despite the global economic slowdown.

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 7 PRIORITIES FOR BUDGET
2023 UNDER AMRIT KAAL

The Finance Minister adopted the following 7 key

factors that will act as ‘Saptarishi’ to guide the
budget through Amrit Kaal.

Inclusive development

Reaching the last mile

Infrastructure and investment

Unleashing potential

Green growth

Youth power

Financial sector

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 FISCAL DEFICIT
TARGETS

The following are the highlights of fiscal deficit

reforms:

The fiscal deficit target for FY23 is retained at 6.4%.

The same is estimated at 5.9% for FY24.

States will be allowed a fiscal deficit of 3.5

percent of GSDP.

The aim is to bring the fiscal deficit below 4.5%

by FY26.

TOURISM

Domestic Tourism will be promoted with new schemes

such as:
‘Dekho Apna Desh’

‘Swadesh Darshan Scheme’ for theme-based

tourism.
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 INFRASTRUCTURE
& INVESTMENT

The budget takes a giant leap to increase the

multiplier effect on growth & employment.

CapEx increased for 3rd consecutive year by

33% to Rs.10 lakh crore, which is 3.3% of GDP.

Railways received its highest-ever capital

outlay of Rs.2.40 lakh crores.

Transport infrastructure projects will be given

high priority.

The newly established Infrastructure Finance

Secretariat to encourage more private
investment in infrastructure.

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 TECHNOLOGY &
STARTUP BOOST

Vision ‘Make AI in India & Make AI work for

India’ to be realized by the establishment of
three centers of excellence for AI.

The growth of agri-tech startups to be

supported by making digital public
infrastructure for agriculture an open source.

The scope of Digilocker will be expanded to

enable better innovative fintech.

100 labs to be set up in engineering

institutions for facilitating 5G app creation.

Adoption of Digital Payments to be continued

in a widespread manner with fiscal support.

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 YOUTH
EMPOWERMENT

National Education Policy will help in youth

empowerment.

30 Skill India International centers to be set up

across India.

Launch of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas

Yojana to upskill at least 1 lakh youth in the
next 3 years.

The scheme will focus on on-job training and

industry partnerships.

The scheme will also focus on upskilling youth

in emerging technologies and soft skills.

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 FINANCIAL
SECTOR
MSME credit schemes will be revamped through
an infusion of Rs.9,000 crore in the corpus. This
will enable additional collateral-free guaranteed
credit of Rs.2 lakh crore rupees.

Capacity building in the securities market will be

prioritized by empowering SEBI through the
development of NISM education.

A new small savings scheme with a deposit facility

of up to Rs.2 lakhs for women will be launched
under Mahila Samman Savings Certificate.

The adoption of digital payments has been

significant, with a 76% increase in transactions.

The maximum deposit limit for Senior Citizen

Savings Scheme has been increased from Rs.15 lakh
to Rs.30 lakhs.

Integrated IT portal to be established for ease of

reclaiming shares and dividends under IEPF.

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 INDIRECT
TAX PROPOSALS
New proposals to focus on encouraging green
energy in addition to the promotion of exports.

Custom duty rates are to be reduced from 21% to 13%

on goods (other than textiles) and agriculture.

Import of raw materials required for the manufacture

of lithium-ion cells used in batteries of electric
vehicles will now be exempted from customs duty.

DIRECT
TAX PROPOSALS

The direct tax has seen significant changes with

respect to personal income taxes. Following are
the highlights:

The new tax regime has now been made the default
tax regime, but the old regime is still available.

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The basic exemption limit will be raised to Rs.7 lakhs
in the new regime.

Salaried employees and pensioners can now claim a

standard deduction benefit of Rs.52,500 under the
new regime.

The number of tax slabs under the new regime is

reduced to 5 and are as follows:

0 - 3 lakhs Nil

3 - 6 lakhs 5%

6 - 9 lakhs 10%

9 - 12 lakhs 15%

12 - 15 lakhs 20%

Above 15 lakhs 30%

Exemption on capital gains investment in residential

house under sections 54 and 54F to be increased to
10 crores.