Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivered her fifth straight budget for the fiscal year beginning April 1. The Union Budget 2023-24 was delivered in paperless form, as has been the case for the last two years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already revealed that amid the global economic turmoil, Union Budget 2023-24 will try to meet the aspirations of ordinary citizens and be a ray of hope for the world. Will the Finance Minister's Budget announcements fulfil the wishlist of India Inc and propel the nation forward in rapid strides? Join Asianet Newsable's non-stop commentary and coverage of the Union Budget 2023-24.

06:38 PM (IST) Feb 01
Naveen Munjal, Managing Director, Hero Electric: "We welcome the Union Budget 2023 presented by the Finance Minister, with sustainability and green growth across sectors at its core. It encourages the implementation of programmes across sectors to reduce carbon intensity and create green jobs through unique initiatives like 'Green Credit', PM Pranam Yojna, Green Hydrogen Mission, etc. Fronting the 'Net Zero Emission' mission, it focuses on the promotion of battery energy storage systems to aid in fueling the electric mobility revolution. The Budget 2023 reflects the government's inclination to support the EV transition, enabling the creation of a carbon-free nation that thrives on sustainable, futuristic, and alternative fuel technology. We are confident that initiatives under green growth and sustainability will build awareness and help everyone contribute towards a clean and green future."
04:53 PM (IST) Feb 01
MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Budget 2023: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivered a crucial budget in Parliament today for the new India, which is developing as a key economic power in the world. Budget 2023 ensures that everyone has access to support and opportunity through various announcements regarding capital expenditure, digitalization, new cities, investment in the skills of young people, and tax cuts for the middle class.
Countries around the world are struggling to recover from the effects of the two-year-old COVID pandemic and the European war. However, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is constructing a robust economy, reducing taxes for the country's middle class, and increasing benefits for farmers and MSMEs. I thank the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister for reaching out to the people and guiding India through one of its gravest crises.
04:01 PM (IST) Feb 01
Budget 2023 lays the roadmap for preparing India for the Amrit Kaal, the next 25 years upto India@100, the Confederation of Indian Industry has said.
Sharing his first reaction to the budget proposals, CII President Sanjiv R Bajaj said it is encouraging to note that the budget has made a bold attempt to invigorate the critical demand drivers of consumption and investment.
The move to rationalise personal income tax rates will go a long way in increasing disposable incomes, thus giving consumers a leg-up which will, in turn, have a salutary impact on India Inc’s investments.
The sharp 33% rise in capital spending budgeted for 2023-24 is in line with CII’s suggestion and lends credence to the government’s vision of improving the economy’s growth potential through a push to overall productivity of the economy and the creation of jobs.
Even as a boost was given to demand drivers, the FM did a fine balancing act of maintaining fiscal discipline by containing the fiscal deficit at 6.4% of GDP for the current fiscal and bringing it down along a steady glide path to 5.9% next year.
02:35 PM (IST) Feb 01
Budget truly makes a move towards placing India as the world's growth engine: FICCI
02:26 PM (IST) Feb 01
PM Modi: Budget 2023-24 will fulfil dreams of aspirational society, farmers, middle class. Amrit Kaal's first budget provides foundation to fulfil resolve for a developed India.
PM Modi: We have to take our success of Digital Payments and duplicate it in our farming sector. We have come up with Digital Agriculture Infrastructure in this year's budget with this vision
02:07 PM (IST) Feb 01
Vinod Sharma,
Chairman, CII National Committee on ICTE Manufacturing and MD, Deki Electronics Ltd
"We welcome Amrit Kaal's first budget, which clearly spells out the blueprint for India@100. It ticks the major checkboxes that India's electronics industry has been asking for: lowering import duties on components currently not made in India, enhancing skilling and providing much needed fiscal support to the country’s MSMEs, which dominate the domestic electronics component manufacturing landscape. These measures will certainly go a long way to further Aatmanibhar Bharat mission and deepen domestic value addition in electronics manufacturing."
01:27 PM (IST) Feb 01
Understanding the tax slabs better:
Standard Deduction: Standard deduction of Rs 50,000 to salaried individual, and deduction from family pension up to Rs 15,000, is currently allowed only under the old regime. It is proposed to allow these two deductions under the new regime also
Exemption: Resident individual with total income up to Rs 5,00,000 do not pay any tax due to rebate under both old and new regime. It is proposed to increase the rebate for the resident individual under the new regime so that they do not pay tax if their total income is up to Rs 7,00,000.
01:12 PM (IST) Feb 01
Market Update: Sensex up over 1000 points at 60644.52 while Nifty goes up by 256.9 points to touch 17,920
01:01 PM (IST) Feb 01
Dr Manish Jangra
Chief Advisor, Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA)
Basically public partnership part is very good for giving a chance to entrepreneurship in the health sector. Increasing nursing and medical colleges is a good step as well. Besides opening nursing colleges, the government must strengthen the peripheral healthcare system. There is too much load on tertiary care hospitals. This load can be reduced by making healthcare delivery better at the periphery. More funds should be allocated to these places. Some places are overstaffed too; periphery staff don't work at all. So a balance needs to be there.
12:44 PM (IST) Feb 01
Ankita Dabas
Chief Growth Officer, Veative Group
The budget brings laser-sharp focus to AI-led skill development by announcing the establishment of three artificial intelligence centres. Foreseeing the spurt in AI-based employment opportunities in the future, Veative Group has devoted over one million manhours over the past decade to create a digital ecosystem in AR/VR, applications for training and development, along with making educational content in VR available globally. We are all set to launch the world’s first careers metaverse in July 2023 that promises to connect enterprises with school-going learners. We wholeheartedly support the govt in making India a leading digital force of reckoning in the world.
12:32 PM (IST) Feb 01
The New Income Tax Rates
Rs 0-3 Lakh - Nil
Rs 3-6 Lakh - 5%
Rs 6-9 Lakh - 10%
Rs 9-12 Lakh - 15%
Rs 12-15 Lakh - 20%
Above Rs 15 Lakh - 30%
12:26 PM (IST) Feb 01
FM: Currently, those with an income of Rs 5 lakhs do not pay any income tax, and I proposed to increase the rebate to Rs 7 lakhs
For better targeting of tax concessions and exemptions, we are proposing to cap deductions from capital gains on investments in residential houses to Rs 10 crores
12:19 PM (IST) Feb 01
FM: Basic customs duty on crude, glycerine proposed to be reduced to 2.5% Customs duty cut on imports of parts of mobile phones extended by a year. Basic customs duty of parts, and open cells of TV panels reduced to 2.5%
12:17 PM (IST) Feb 01
FM: The Basic Customs Duty on Electric Kitchen Chimneys raised from 7.5% to 15.00%. The basic customs duty on compounded rubbers is being increased from 10% to 25% or 30 Kg whichever is lower.
12:07 PM (IST) Feb 01
FM: To improve bank governance and enhance investors' protection, certain amendments to the Banking Regulation act, the Banking Companies Act and the Reserve Bank of India act are being proposed
12:05 PM (IST) Feb 01
FM: States are encouraged to set up Unity Malls for the promotion of One District, One Product, GI tag products, handicrafts (of their own and other states)
12:04 PM (IST) Feb 01
FM: The Unified Skill India Digital platform will enable demand-based formal skilling, linking with employers (including MSMEs) and facilitating access to entrepreneurial schemes. To empower our youth and help the Amrit Peedhi realize their dreams, we have formulated a National Education Policy - and one focus of this policy is skilling youths by adopting economic policies that facilitate job creation. 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
11:57 AM (IST) Feb 01
FM: Replacing old polluting vehicles is an important part of greening our economy. We have allocated adequate funds to scrap old vehicles of the central govt
11:56 AM (IST) Feb 01
FM: Over the next 3 years, we will facilitate 1 crore farmers to adopt natural farming
11:49 AM (IST) Feb 01
FM: Rs 35,000 crore priority capital for the energy transition. Battery storage to get viability gap funding. The recently launched National Green Hydrogen Mission with an outlay of 19,700 crores will facilitate the transition of the economy to low carbon intensity and reduce dependents on fossil fuel imports
11:47 AM (IST) Feb 01
FM: Vivad Se Vishwas 2 - To settle contractual disputes of government and government undertakings where an arbitral award is under challenge in a court, a voluntary settlement scheme with standardized terms will be introduced
11:46 AM (IST) Feb 01
FM: For business establishments required to have Permanent Account Number, the PAN will be used as a common identifier for all Digital Systems of specified government agencies
11:45 AM (IST) Feb 01
FM: New programme to promote research and innovation in pharmaceuticals to be taken up through centres of excellence, industry to also be encouraged to invest in research and development in priority areas
11:44 AM (IST) Feb 01
FM: A National Data Governance Policy will be bought out to unleash Innovation and research by Startups and Academia, enabling access to anonymous data.
11:42 AM (IST) Feb 01
FM: 50 additional airports, helipods, water aero drones, advanced landing grounds will be revived to improve of regional air connectivity.
11:41 AM (IST) Feb 01
FM: A mission to eliminate Sickle cell anemia by 2047 will be launched to entail awareness creation and universal screening of 7 crore people in the age group of 0-40 years in affected tribal areas.
11:40 AM (IST) Feb 01
FM: A capital outlay of 2.40 lakh crores has been provided for the railways. This is about 9 times the outlay has made in 2013-14
11:39 AM (IST) Feb 01
FM: All cities and towns will be enabled for 100% mechanical desludging of septic tanks to transition from man-hold to machine-hold mode
11:34 AM (IST) Feb 01
FM: The capital investment outlay is being increased steeply for the 3rd year in a row by 33% to 10 lakh crores which would be 3.3% of GDP - this will be almost 3 times the outlay made in 2019-20
11:33 AM (IST) Feb 01
FM: To build a culture of reading and to make up for the pandemic-time learning loss, National Book Trust, The Children's Book Trust, and other sources will be encouraged to provide Non-Curricular Titles in regional languages
11:32 AM (IST) Feb 01
FM on launch of new sub-scheme under PM Matsya Sampada yojana with a targeted investment of Rs 6000 crore: To further enable activities of fishermen, fish vendors and small entrepreneurs and improve value chain efficiency
11:30 AM (IST) Feb 01
FM on PM Vishwa Karma Kaushal Samman: A package of assistance for traditional artisans and craftspeople has been conceptualized, and will enable them to improve the quality, scale and reach of their products, integrating with the MSME value chain. Components of the scheme will include financial support, access to efficient green technologies, advanced skill training, social security, modern digital techniques, brand promotion, and market linkages; it will greatly benefit people of weaker sections
FM on Public-Private Partnership: We will encourage collaboration between farmers, states and industries for input supply extension services and market linkages
11:25 AM (IST) Feb 01
FM: The Indian Council For Medical Research Labs will be made available for research by public and private medical college faculty and private sector R&D teams for encouraging collaborative research and innovation:
11:22 AM (IST) Feb 01
FM: For small and marginal farmers, the government is promoting a cooperative-based model to achieve the vision of “Sahakaar se Samruudhi” by setting up 63000 primary agricultural credit societies.
11:21 AM (IST) Feb 01
FM: The budget adopts 7 priorities that will guide us to Amrit Kaal
1. Inclusive Development
2. Reaching the last mile
3. Infrastructure and investment
4. Unleashing the potential
5. Green Growth
6. Youth Power
7. Finance Sector
11:20 AM (IST) Feb 01
FM: We are implementing many programs for green fuel, green energy, green farming, green mobility, green buildings, green equipment, and creating policies for efficient energy use across various economic sectors
11:17 AM (IST) Feb 01
FM: Economic agenda for our vision focuses on the following:
1) facilitating opportunities for citizens
2) providing strong impetus to growth and job creation
3) strengthening macroeconomic stability
11:15 AM (IST) Feb 01
FM: Indian economy has increased in size from being tenth to 5th largest in the world in the last nine years; we have made significant progress in many SDGs, the economy has become a lot more formalized, and efficient implementation of schemes has brought about inclusive development
11:12 AM (IST) Feb 01
FM: Entire expenditure of about Rs. 2 lakh crore under PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana is being borne by the central government, for supplying free food grains for one year to all Antyodaya and priroity households
FM: G20 Presidency gives us a unique opportunity to strengthen our role in the world economic order, we are steering an ambitious people-centric agenda to address global challenges and facilitate sustainable economic development
11:09 AM (IST) Feb 01
Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget Speech:
* India's growth at 7 pc in current fiscal highest among major economies
* Budget hopes to build on foundation of previous budget and blue print for India@100
* World has recognised India as a bright star
* Per capita income has doubled in the last 9 years