By Alasdair Pal
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday unveiled the budget for fiscal 2022/23 that aims to boost growth amid continued disruption from COVID-19 and rising inflation.
These are the highlights:
DEFICIT/GDP
* Proposes fiscal deficit of 4.5% of GDP by 2025/26
* Projects fiscal deficit of 6.4% of GDP in 2022/23
* Revised fiscal deficit for 2021/22 at 6.9% of GDP
* Revenue deficit seen at 3.8% of GDP in 2022/23
* Nominal GDP expected to grow by 11.1% in 2022/23
BORROWING
* Revises 2021/22 gross borrowing to 10.46 trillion rupees versus budget estimate of 12.05 trillion rupees
* Gross borrowing in FY23 seen at 14.95 trillion rupees
* Net borrowing seen at 11.59 trillion rupees in FY23
RECEIPTS
* Projects gross tax revenue of 27.6 trillion rupees in 2022/23
* Net tax revenue seen at 1.93 trillion rupees in FY23
* Disinvestment receipts pegged at 650 billion rupees
* FY22 disinvestment receipts revised to 780 billion rupees from 1.75 trillion rupees
* Total revenue receipts seen at 22.04 trillion in FY23
* Pegs dividend and profits at 1.14 trillion rupees for 2022/23
* Govt to switch bonds worth 1 trillion rupees in FY23
* Aims to get 739.48 billion rupees dividend from Reserve Bank of India and financial institutions in FY23
EXPENDITURE
* Total expenditure in 2022/23 seen at 39.45 trillion rupees
* Fertiliser subsidy seen at 1.05 trillion rupees in 2022/23
* Food subsidy seen at 2.07 trillion rupees in 2022/23
* To borrow 4.25 trillion rupees via national small savings fund
* Projects interest payments, servicing of government debt at 9.4 trillion rupees in 2022/23
DUTY
* Import duty on certain chemicals are being reduced
* Customs duty exemption on steel scrap to be extended for another year for small- and medium-sized businesses
* Customs duty on stainless steel, flat products, high steel bars to be revoked
* Unblended fuel to get additional duty of 2 rupees per litre from October 2022
* Duty on cut and polished diamonds to be 5%
* Proposes import duty cut on coal, coke, coal gas to 5% from 10% from May 1
* Proposes to scrap 10% import duty on aviation gasoline from May 1
* Proposes import duty cut on jet fuel to 5% from 10% from May 1
* Proposes import duty cut on LNG, propane, butanes to 2.5% from 10% from May 1
* Proposes import duty cut on LPG to 5% from 10% from May 1
FINANCE
* Emergency credit line guarantee scheme for small and medium sized businesses to be extended to March 2023
* Energy transition and climate action will be a major government priority
* Public issue of Life Insurance Corporation expected shortly
* Initiatives from last year's budget have been provided adequate allocations in this budget
* Special Economic Zones Act to be replaced with new legislation
* To amend bankruptcy code to speed up resolution process
* Aims to lower winding up of companies to 6 months from 2 years currently
* Long term capital gain surcharge to be capped at 15%
STATES
* States will be allowed 4% fiscal deficit to GDP in FY23
* 50-year interest-free loans over and above normal borrowing allocated to states
* Scheme for financial assistance to states for capital investment outlay to be 1 trillion rupees in 2022/23
DIGITAL CURRENCY
* To launch digital rupee using blockchain technology starting 2022/23
* To launch scheme for taxation of virtual digital assets
* Losses from sale of virtual digital assets cannot be offset against other income
* Income from virtual digital assets to be taxed at 30%
INFRASTRUCTURE
* 5G spectrum auctions to be conducted in 2022
* Scheme for design-led manufacturing for 5G will be part of production-linked scheme
* To award contracts to lay optical fibre in rural areas, completion in 2025
* 480 billion rupees set aside for affordable housing in 2022/23
* To allocate additional 195 billion rupees for production-linked incentives towards solar equipment manufacturing
AGRICULTURE
* Domestic scheme introduced to reduce dependence on oilseed imports
* Fund with blended capital raised under co-investment model to finance agriculture startups
* Railways to develop infrastructure for small farmers in 2022/23
TRANSPORT
* 400 energy efficient trains to be manufactured over next three years
* National highways network to be expanded by 25,000km in 2022/23
* Highways expansion to cost 200 billion rupees in 2022/23
* India budget: to bring out battery swapping policy
DEFENCE
* Government committed to reducing defence imports