Budget 2023 Flashcards
NEWS
The Finance Minister of India introduced the last full-fledged Union Budget (for 2023-24) before the Lok Sabha elections of 2024.
What are the Constitutional Provisions regarding Budget?
According to Article 112 of the Indian Constitution, the Union Budget of a year is referred to as the Annual Financial Statement (AFS).
It is a statement of the estimated receipts and expenditure of the Government in a Financial Year (which begins on 1st April of the current year and ends on 31st March of the following year).
Overall, the Budget contains:
Estimates of revenue and capital receipts,
Ways and means to raise the revenue,
Estimates of expenditure,
Details of the actual receipts and expenditure of the closing financial year and the reasons for any deficit/surplus in that year, and
The economic and financial policy of the coming year, i.e., taxation proposals, prospects of revenue, spending programme and introduction of new schemes/projects.
In Parliament, the Budget goes through six stages:
Presentation of Budget
General discussion
Scrutiny by Departmental Committees
Voting on Demands for Grants
Passing an Appropriation Bill
Passing of Finance Bill
The Budget Division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance is the nodal body responsible for preparing the Budget.
The first Budget of Independent India was presented in 1947.
What are the Highlights of Budget 2023-24?
A key theme of Union Budget 2023-24 is the focus on inclusive development - Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas which specifically covers;
Farmers, Women, Youth, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Divyangjan (PwDs) and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS),
Overall priority for the underprivileged (vanchiton ko variyata),
There has also been a sustained focus on UTs of J&K and Ladakh and the Northeast Region (NER).
The Budget is along the lines of the two-pronged growth strategy first unveiled in 2019:
Incentivising the private sector thus creating jobs and pushing growth.
‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’; increasing capex and raising more revenues via disinvestment.
Key Takeaways of the Budget:
Changes in the new income tax regime (in rebate limit and in tax slabs).
A 33% increase in capital investment outlay has been proposed, raising it to Rs 10 lakh crore (the biggest in the past decade).
Changes in customs duty; reduced on import of certain inputs for mobile phone manufacturing, shrimp feed etc. and increased on cigarettes, gold articles, compounded rubber etc.
Capital outlay for the railways increased to the highest ever – Rs 2.40 lakh crore.
