Budget 2022 LIVE: Digital rupee, 5G, crypto tax among major announcements

Customs duty on cut & polished diamonds, gems to be reduced to 5%

Existing tax benefits for startups, which were offered redemption of taxes for 3 consecutive years, to be extended by 1 more year.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announces 30% tax on proceeds of virtual/digital assets. “I propose to provide that any income from transfer of any virtual digital asset shall be taxed at the rate of 30%. No deduction in respect of any expenditure or allowance shall be allowed while computing such income, except cost of acquisition,” the FM said. 

Nirmala Sitharaman announced a new tax rule for taxpayers where a taxpayer can file an updated return on payment of taxes within two years from the end of the relevant assessment year. This is a new provision which will ensure voluntari tax filing and reduce litigation, the FM said.

FM announces central bank digital currency, which will be a digital rupee using blockchain and other techs. It will be introduced by the RBI in 2022-23. This will give a big boost to the economy, Sitharaman said. 

Capital Expenditure to increase 35.4% from ₹5.54 lakh crore to 7.50 lakh crore

SEZ (Special Economic Zones) Act will be replaced with new legislation taking states on the board.

68% of the capital procurement budget for Defence to be earmarked for domestic industry to promote Aatmanirbharta and reduce dependence on imports of defence equipment. This is up from the 58% last fiscal: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

5G spectrum auctions to be carried out in 022 to enable the launch of services within FY 22-23

Issuance of E-passports will be rolled out in 2022-23 to enhance convenience for citizens. Ease of business 2.0 will be launched. 

Govt continuously encouraging digital banking. Taking forward, 75 digital banking units will be set up in 75 districts.

Nirmala Sitharaman announced ₹2.37 lakh crore worth of MSP direct payments to wheat and paddy farmers

Sitharaman announced a national telehealth programme in Budget 2022.

For classes 1 to 12, 1 class 1 Tv channel will be extended from 12 to 12,000 TV channels, announced Nirmala Sitharaman, considering the loss of the education system due to the pandemic.

Startups will be promoted to facilitate Drone Shakti to make drone a service. In select ITIs in all states, courses will be started.

PM Gati Shakti

Inclusive Development

Productivity Enhancement

Sunrise Opportunities

Energy Transition

Climate Action

Financing of investments

400 new-generation Vande Bharat trains with higher efficiency and better facilities for passengers will be developed in the next three years

PM Gati Shakti plan one of the four pillars of growth, says FM in her Budget speech. 25,000 km of national highways to be built in 2022-23, Sitharaman says.

Two parallel tracks for the next 25 years: public investments in infrastructure and a budget that is inclusive and futuristic

India’s growth estimated to be at 9.2%, highest among all large economies; we are now in a strong position to withstand challenges, says FM

At the onset, Finance minister Nirmala Sitharam expressed empathy to all those who have suffered from the Covid-19 pandemic. “We are in the midst of the Omicron wave, the speed of our vaccination campaign has helped greatly. I am confident that ‘Sabka Prayaas’, we’ will continue with strong growth,” FM says. This Budget will benefit, youth, women, farmers, SC and ST.

Lok Sabha session begins. 

The Cabinet meeting ahead of the Budget presentation has concluded. The Cabinet had approved Budget 2022. 

Opening on a higher note, Sensex is now approaching 59,000 ahead of the Budget

Covid spending

Fiscal deficit

Privatisation

Capital expenditure

Tax revenue

Borrowing

Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday wore a rusty brown saree with an off-white border. According to an ANi report, The rusty brown tone of her saree was a combination of two colours, brown and red, that hold a deeper significance. While the colour brown is often associated with resilience, dependability, security, and safety, red signifies warmth, love and power.

On February 1, the rate of non-subsidised (14.2 kg) Indane domestic cylinders in Delhi will be available at ₹899.50. At the same time, the people of Kolkata will get a domestic LPG cylinder of 14.2 kg for ₹926. In Mumbai, the price of a non-subsidised LPG cylinder will be the same as Delhi, while in Chennai it will cost ₹915.50.  Read

The previous budgets presented by Sitharaman have had distinct backdrops. While in 2019 (months after the Bharatiya Janata Party won a thumping electoral mandate), she offered a slew of reforms, the next one in the midst of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic shrank the scope of possibilities.

The third one too was presented in the shadow of the pandemic. 

From the finance ministry office, Nirmala Sitharaman reached the Rashtrapati Bhavan to meet President Ram Nath Kovind ahead of the presentation of the Budget in Parliament. 

Sensex soars 582.85 points, currently at 58,597.02. Nifty up by 156.20 points, currently at 17,496.05

As finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman posed with the ministry officials in front of the office of the finance ministry on Tuesday ahead of the Budget 2022 presentation in Parliament, she held the tab in her hand. The tab, like last year, was wrapped in a red cover which looks like bahi khata. Bahi Khata has been replaced as Budget has gone paperless.

People can watch the presentation of the Union Budget on February 1 at 11am live on Lok Sabha TV. People can also tune in to the event on various news outlets and social media platforms like YouTube and Twitter.

The session starts at 11am with the finance minister presenting the Budget in the Lok Sabha. An hour after the conclusion of the presentation of the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha, the Finance Minister will table the Budget in the Rajya Sabha, a statement (in English and Hindi) of the estimated receipts and expenditure of the Government for the year 2022-23.

The Minister will also the table, a copy each (in English and Hindi) of Medium-term Fiscal Policy cum Fiscal Policy Strategy Statement and Macro-Economic Framework Statement under section 3 (1) of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has reached North Block, the office of the ministry of finance.  Here, she will hold a meeting of the officials. The finance minister is also scheduled to meet the President before heading to Parliament. 

MoS finance Pankaj Chaudhary said Budget 2022 will be an inclusive Budget, in line with the needs of each and every sector. “It will be benefiting everyone…All sectors (including farmers) should have expectations from today’s Budget,” he said to ANI.

Former finance minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram on Tuesday took a jibe at some media platforms and said on the morning after teh Economic Survey, if one reads some newspapers, they will come to the conclusion that there is no opposition in India

PM Modi expects that every group – be it the ruling side or the Opposition – should sit together and listen to the presenting of the Budget and cooperate, minister of state for finance Bhagwat Karad said. 

This is a yearly ritual that officials involved in preparing the Budget documents go for a lock-in period at the ministry. This is to maintain the secrecy of the Budget. They will only be allowed to meet their family members after the Budget is presented today. This year, they went for the lock-in period on January 27.

Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur are going to the polls starting from February 10. The Budget is likely to have some big announcements for these states.

Congress leader Manish Tewari said the biggest budgetary challenge for Nirmala Sitharaman is to create employment for 60% of Indian people. This is the only budgetary number worth watching, he tweeted.

While the fiscal deficit forecast is narrower than the 6.8% gap targeted for the current fiscal year, it’s far wider than the shortfall seen in pre-pandemic years. Sitharaman is expected to propose borrowing a near-record 13 trillion rupees ($174 billion) to bridge the gap, Bloomberg reported.

American companies are expecting tax parity from Nirmala Sitharaman so that they can invest more. Instead of becoming tax terrorism, the tax regime should become tax partners.

Nirmala Sitharaman introduced bahi khata which replaced the tradition of carrying the Budget papers in a briefcase. As Budget went paperless, the bahi khata was replaced by a Made in India tab, which was wrapped in a red bahi khata like cover with the National Emblem embossed on it.

With a few hours to go for Union Budget 2022,  ‘Finance minister Nirmala’ started trending on Twitter.

Reuters reported that Budget 2022 will be focussed on infrastructure spending, health services and social programmes. There are likely to be announcement on more more spending on roads, railways, besides higher subsidies for affordable housing.

1. 80C deduction available up to ₹1.5 lakh a year be revised upwards significantly

2. To make the optional concessionary tax regime, which came into effect from April 2021, more acceptable, raise the threshold ₹15 lakh income for laying peak 30% tax rate

3 . Special tax regime for crypto

4. The burden of the long-term capital gains tax (LTCG), introduced vide Finance Act 2018, has somewhat dented investor confidence. Major economies do not have LTCG tax. In India too, it is expected that LTCG on the sale of Indian-listed equity shares will be exempted as it would boost investment through the stock exchange. 

5. Corporates are expecting that the entire amount or an appropriate proportion of expenditure incurred for helping the society and employee welfare during COVID-19 will be allowed as deductible expenditure. 

Corporates are expecting that the entire amount or an appropriate proportion of expenditure incurred for helping the society and employee welfare during Covid-19 will be allowed as deductible expenditure

Industry wants a specialised regime for taxation of cryptocurrency as crypto assets encompassing a wide array of digital assets like non-fungible tokens, wrapped asset tokens etc, will gain tremendous traction.

Moraraji Desai holds the record of presenting the most number of budgets in the history of the country. He had presented 10 budgets during his stint as finance minister during 1962-69.

He is followed by P Chidambaram (9), Pranab Mukherjee (8), Yashwant Sinha (8) and Manmohan Singh (6)

Since last year, India’s Budget has gone paperless cutting down on the expenditure of the printing of the documents. This is called the green or paperless Budget.

The printing of several hundred copies of the voluminous Budget documents was such an elaborate exercise that printing staff had to stay at Noth Block for a couple of weeks to finish the work. 

The Modi government has curtailed the printing of the Budget copies.  To begin with, the copies distributed to journalists and outside analysts were curtailed and then since the pandemic, the copies provided to Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs have been curtailed.

Nirmala Sitharaman called her 2021 Budget as Once-in-a-century-Budget. It was aimed at reviving India’s economy via investing in infrastructure and healthcare while relying on an aggressive privatisation strategy and robust tax collection.

Yes, everyone can download the Budget documents from Union Budget Mobile App. This was launched last year as Budget went paperless. The mobile App allows complete access to 14 Union Budget documents, including the Budget Speech, Annual Financial Statement (commonly known as Budget), Demand for Grants (DG), Finance Bill etc. as prescribed by the Constitution. The mobile app is bilingual (English & Hindi) and is available on both Android and iOS platforms.

The App can also be downloaded from the Union Budget Web Portal (www.indiabudget.gov.in). The budget documents will also be available for download by the general public on Union Budget Web Portal (www.indiabudget.gov.in), said the statement by the ministry.

Halwa ceremony marks the final stage of the process of the making of the Union Budget. Halwa is made to mark the occasion, but the pandemic forced the ministry to do away with the ceremony. Instead, sweets were provided to the staff of the ministry who since then were locked at their workplaces.

The Congress said the Economic Survey revealed the intrinsic weakness of the economy of the Modi government. Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala termed the survey a “self-serving cheerful assessment” of the economy that raises doubts about what the Budget is set out to achieve. “The Economic Survey2022 is a classic case of ‘what statistics say’ versus ‘what they actually reveal’. It clearly reveals the intrinsic weakness of the economy and the gross economic mismanagement by the Modi government,” Surjewala said in a series of tweets.

The capital expenditure for the Indian Railways saw a substantial increase in 2020-21 as compared to the average annual during 2009-14 and it has been budgeted to further increase in 2021-22, according to the Economic Survey. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) grew at 17.4 per cent (YoY) during April-November 2021 as compared to (-)15.3 per cent in April-November 2020.

The Capital Expenditure has grown by 13.5 per cent with a focus on infrastructure-intensive sectors during April-November 2021, according to the Economic Survey tabled in Parliament on Monday.

Nominal GDP growth assumption in the Budget

Tax Buoyancy for 2021-22 and 2022-23

Relief on the petrol-diesel price front, if any

If there is a political game-changer for the elections

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