The finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has just laid the union budget 2023 before the house. This was the fifth time that the lady finance minister presented the budget and the last time before the next general election that are scheduled next year. In a nutshell, budget 2023 is a futuristic budget where the finance minister spoke about need of energy conservation, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digitization as the foundation for next 50 years. She spoke about an all-inclusive budget where the focus was “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas”.
The many tax reforms and tax exemptions will definitely ease the burden of inflation from middle-class. This budget was created around seven key points which were;
- Inclusive Development
- Reaching the last mile
- Infra and Investment
- Unleashing the potential
- Green Growth
- Youth Power
- Financial Sector
Some of the important highlights announced today were an agriculture accelerator fund will be set up to help agri startups in the country and the government has announced to raise farm credit target to Rs 20 lakh crore.
The FM also announced PM Vishwa Karma Kaushal Samman which will be a package of assistance for traditional artisans and craftsmen. The government said it would improve quality, scale and scale of their products, which will integrate these entrepreneurs with MSME value chain.
Other highlights of the Union Budget 2023 are:
- There are no changes to the existing Tax System
- Allocation for PM Awas Yojana raised by 66 percent
- Individuals with income of Rs 15.5 lakh and above will now be eligible for standard deduction of Rs 52,500 in new tax regime in Budget 2023.
- Standard deduction is hiked to Rs 52,500 in new tax regime
- An individual with annual income of Rs 9 lakh will have to pay only Rs 45,000
- Now anyone can update address, identity proof easily via DigiLocker
