Union Budget 2022 Live Updates : FM Sitharaman Full Speech

Union Budget 2022 Live Updates | Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman began her budget speech by expressing sympathy to those suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Finance Minister said that India's growth rate is estimated to be 9.2%, which is the highest among all the major economies. 

Union Budget 2022 Live Announcements 

• For farmers to adopt natural farming, a comprehensive package will be introduced for the involvement of State Governments and MSMEs.

• The hospitality services by the small and medium sector are yet to boom, therefore, the government has decided to extend the ECGL service for the sector till March 2023 with an increased cover of Rs 50,000.

• The skilling program will be revamped. For skilling, upskilling and reskilling of our youth, Digital Desh e-portal will be launched.

• To provide supplementary education in regional languages ​​for classes 1-12, 'One Class One TV Channel' will be increased from 12 to 200 TV channels.

• A digital university will be developed to provide students access to world class quality education with ISTE standards.

• A national tele mental health program for mental health counseling will be launched

• Our government is committed to a self-reliant India in the armed forces. The Finance Minister said that 68% of the capital purchase budget will be earmarked for the domestic industry for 2022-23, which was 58% in 2021-22.

• 19,500 crore earmarked for PLI for manufacturing high efficiency modules for polysilicon.

• Financial assistance will be provided to the farmers willing to adopt agro-forestry.

• The thermal power plants will co-fire 5-7% biomass pellets, resulting in savings of 38 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.

• The outlay for capital expenditure increased by 35.4% from the previous year to 7.50 lakh crore in 2022-23.

• Sovereign Green Bonds will be issued in public sector projects to reduce the carbon footprint initiatives in the economy.

• Solar capacity building - Rs 19500 Cr PLI Incentive to be given

• 5-7% biomass pellets to be used by thermal power plants 

• Capital expenditure stepped up to Rs 7.5 lakh crore in 2022-23

• Sovereign Green Bonds to be floated to fund green infra 

• Foreign Universities to be allowed to be set up in Gift City 

• RBI to introduce Digital Rupee in next fiscal 

• Rs 1 lakh crore allocated to States to build capital assets in next fiscal 

• Total expenditure in next fiscal to be Rs 39.5 lakh crore 

• Fiscal deficit pegged at 6.4% for next year

• FM allows leeway to taxpayers to file updated or revised return within two years 

• Budget proposes to reduce AMT to 15% for Cooperatives + surcharge reduced to 7%

• Tax incentives to be available for Start-ups registered till March 2023

• Concessional Corporate tax regime - Date for commencement of manufacturing extended by one more year 

• Virtual Digital Assets - Capital gains from transfer of such assets to be taxed at 30%; Loss not to be allowed to be set off 

• Surcharge across board including long-term capital gains reduced 

• Health & Education Cess not allowable as business expenditure 

• No set off of any loss to be allowed against undisclosed income detected during Search 

• GST collections in Jan month soar to Rs 1.41 lakh crore 

• SEZ reform to be implemented by Sept 2022 

• Project Imports - Customs concessional regime phased out - 7.5% tax imposed  

• 350 Customs exemption notifications to be expired 

• Electronics - Duty concessions offered to mobile camera and transformers + Duty reduced to 5% for gems & Jewellery 

• Duty on chemicals used for petrol refining reduced 

• Duty exemption for import of steel scrap extended by one more year

Taxation on Cryptocurrency 

• Propose Scheme to tax Virtual Digital Assets at 30% 

• Gits of Virtual Digital Asstes to be taxed in the hands of recipient. 

• TDS at 1% on payment made on transfer of virtual digital assets. 

• Loss on Virtual Digital Assets cannot be set off against any other head of income. 

The Union Budget is the annual report of India as a country. It includes the revenue and expenditure of the Government of India for the end of a particular financial year, which runs from 1 April to 31 March. The Union Budget is the most comprehensive account of the government's finances, aggregating the revenues from all sources and the activities of all expenditure. It includes revenue budget and capital budget. It also includes projections for the next financial year. In keeping with the recent tradition, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will announce the Union Budget 2022 today on February 1. This will be his fourth budget after 2019, 2020 and 2021. He read out the budget from a tablet in Parliament last year; and from a ledger cut in the preceding years.

A virtual meeting of the leaders of the Rajya Sabha was held under the chairmanship of the Speaker of the House and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on January 31, ahead of the Union Budget. President Ram Nath Kovind also addressed the joint sitting of the two houses on January 31, kick-starting the budget session of Parliament. In addition, the Economic Survey 2022 was tabled in both the houses of the Parliament on 31 January. The Rajya Sabha is likely to function from 10 am to 3 pm on working days, while the Lok Sabha will function from 4 pm to 9 pm. The first part of the budget session will start from January 31 and will continue till February 11. The second part of the budget session will run from March 14 to April 8.

Notably, this Parliament session is taking place in the midst of campaigning for the assembly elections in five states - Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. With voting due at the end of the month, it remains to be seen whether the 2022-23 budget will focus more on populist measures.