Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented Union Budget 2022-23 in Lok Sabha yesterday. While the budget proved favourable for start-ups, environment, and MSMEs, the health and education sector didn’t witness any major schemes. Citizens expected tax slabs in personal income taxes but got dissatisfied due to unchanged charges.
On the other hand, digital assets witnessed tax impositions and Digital Rupee worked as a silver lining. Deshdoot Times held a live discussion with field experts to discuss the budget’s pros and cons. Executive Editor of Deshdoot and Deshdoot Times, Dr Vaishali Balajiwale, conversed with them to understand various aspects of budget. All the field experts presented their thoughts and shared the relevant details with the public. details with the public. For detailed discussion log on to http://www.deshdoottimes.com.
Adwait Aphale, CA
It is a ‘digital push budget’. Launching its own digital currency, digitization of land records, e-banking, artificial intelligence, and updating IT returns, the country will witness a shift to digitalisation. Central government is regulating cryptocurrency, but the steps are conflicting. On one hand, the government introduced ‘Digital Rupee’, i.e., the country’s digital currency and taxed the cryptocurrency on the other.
It is not recognising the currency but taxing it, thus creating conflict and inviting litigations in court. Also, introducing taxes for digital currency, charging one per cent TDS on digital payments, and taxing the recipient of the virtual/digital asset gifts, the plans and implementation are unclear. Speaking on the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS), he stated this scheme majorly focuses on the MSME sector. The government has introduced the hospitality sector under this scheme which wasn’t present earlier.
Sahil Garud, CA
This is a financially prudent budget. There aren’t many changes made in the budget. He added some changes in the budget are positive, while others are negative. One of the positive changes included is the extension of the deadline of 15% corporate tax for new manufacturing industries till March 31, 2024.
However, increasing taxation on digital currency can create a negative impact. Speaking of income tax slabs in the personal income tax category, everyone expected a change in slabs, but the rates remained the same. The government focused on taxation amendments in start-ups and the digital area.
Reducing surcharge on share markets and mutual funds shall welcome FDI (foreign direct investment), but imposing a 30% charge on digital assets might nullify the effect. Their focus on clean energy through fast approvals is a good initiative, but the main question revolves around its implementation.
Shubham Dungarwal, Agri Sector
Even though he didn’t witness any massive changes in the budget, a reduction of corporate surcharge from 12% to 7% will prove beneficial in the agriculture field, especially for farmers. The government focused on market linkage compared to agricultural inputs.
Their main challenge is to supply the produce of farmers and ensure zero production wastage. At present, 40% of produce gets wasted on ground. To reduce that, the government is creating a strong market linkage. Speaking of funding, NABARD might indulge in a two-way process and fund farmers and Agri traders to generate capital at a lower interest rate.
While expressing his thoughts on Artificial intelligence holding great potential in future, Shubham stated a strong education base is the need of the hour. The country has abundant manpower, but AI fields demand skilled manpower. Special training is required for the AI, i.e., the technological part. The creation of special technological centres/institutes will help students understand the technical aspect associated with different fields.
Malhar Mutalik, Industry Sector
The budget didn’t have any big surprises as the government has created a long-term vision of 25 years. As the government is working on the schemes and initiatives launched earlier, not introducing new schemes and strengthening the old implementations served as a positive point. The PM Gati Shakti is a tremendous boost to the CAPEX (capital expenditure)sector/infrastructure.
He added ‘one product, one station’ scheme is brilliant. The industries expect logistics and connectivity as the country hosts a domestic driven market. With Gati Shakti Yojana, the logistics aspect is expected to resolve. PLI incentives and electronic segment push is a big plus point for the industries.
Surety bonds instead of bank guarantees will prove as a relief for MSMEs in terms of monetary assets, once PSUs start accepting them. Reduction in steel prices shall also serve as a boon for industries. To conclude, he stated battery swapping policy for electric vehicles is a great initiative to reduce e-waste.
Prof. Dr Medha Saikhedkar
It is a ‘flat budget’. Speaking on surety bonds, Saikhedkar opined it’s a great initiative and insurance companies will also provide surety bonds. Its usage shall be higher and easier. She added that it was disappointing to witness little attention given to the education sector.
Even though the education sector was affected severely by the pandemic in last two years, there were no concrete plans for this sector in the budget. The government undertook too many items under its wings but have not focused on anything specific.
They spoke of quality e-content creation but didn’t specify the time, resources, and facilities provided for the same. Even in health sector, everyone expected the government to at least allot 3.4% of GDP to health. One of the positive points is specific figures provided for allocating GDP to states. The government also carry forwards its older initiatives in automobile sector like metro projects, and therefore, the focus on automobiles in this year’s budget is limited.
