In Pics | Key highlights of FM Nirmala Sitharaman's 2023 Budget speech

Income Tax Limit: The rebate under section 87A of the new income tax regime has been hiked to Rs 7 lakh. Income slabs have been reduced to five, starting from Rs 3 lakhs. The Finance Minister announced that the new tax regime will now be the default tax regime.

Direct Taxes: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her 2023 Budget speech that the Government has processed more than 6.54 crore returns this year on the tax portal. She added that the average processing period of 93 days in FY13-14 has been reduced to 16 days now; 45 percent of the returns were processed within 24 hours. 

Senior Citizens: The limit of the senior citizens saving scheme (SCSS) has been increased from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 30 lakh in Budget 2023. The SCSS is a scheme introduced by the central government in 2004 for individuals above the age of 60 to provide them with a steady and secure source of income post-retirement. 

Cigarettes: The national calamity contingent duty has been increased by 16 percent on specified cigarettes, meaning they will get more expensive.

Green Growth: Battery energy storage systems with a capacity of 4,000 MWh will be supported with viability gap funding. A detailed framework for pumped storage will also be formulated. The inter-state transmission system for evacuation and grid integration of 13 GW renewable energy from Ladakh will be constructed with an investment of Rs 20,700 crore including Central support of Rs 8,300 crore. A green credit programme for encouraging behavioural change will be notified under the Environment Protection Act.

Custom Duty: Mobile phone production in India increased from 5.8 crore units valued at about Rs 18,900 crore in 2014-15 to 31 crore units valued at Rs 2,75,000 crore in the last fiscal year. FM announced further relief in customs duty on the import of certain parts of mobile phones like camera lenses and batteries by another year.

Digilocker: FM Nirmala Sitharaman has announced the expansion of the Government digital certificate depository Digilocker services for the fintech sector.

DBT Scheme for Youths: To provide support to 47 lakh youths in 3 years, a Direct Benefit Transfer under a pan-India national apprenticeship scheme will be rolled out. 

Banking on Construction: From unity malls to roads and highways to affordable houses – the 2023 Budget is banking on fueling domestic demand and public investments to propel growth as the world braces for a recession

PAN Cards: The government legalised the permanent account number (PAN) as a single business identification with the aim of allowing businesses to use PAN instead of other data as a unique identifier for entering into the national single-window system.

Agriculture Sector: The Union Government’s focus on reforming the agriculture sector continues: The target for agricultural credit has been set at Rs 20 lakh crore for 2023-24. Overall bank credit surged in 2022, with the latest RBI data showing non-food bank credit was up 15.3 percent in December, up from 9.4 percent a year ago.

Health: The government is on a mission to eliminate sickle cell anaemia by 2047. The mission will entail awareness creation, universal screening of 7 crore people in the age group of 0-40 years in tribal areas and collaborations between central institutions and state governments.

Educational Infrastructure: 157 new nursing colleges will be established in colocation with the existing 157 medical colleges established since 2014. Eklavya Modern Schools will be made in the next three years. 

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana: Budget 2023-24 allocated Rs 79,000 crore to the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), giving a further boost to the government’s programme to provide housing to the urban poor.

Big Jump in Capex: At Rs 10 lakh crore, the Centre’s capex target for 2023-24 is 33 percent higher than the Budget estimate of Rs 7.5 lakh crore for 2022-23.