Budget 2022, Who is the budget for?
The budget was announced on 1st Feb 2022 by our finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman. Let’s see what all has been said in the budget 2022, how much can be implemented and If there is something beneficial to the consumers. Is it a budget that is just an announcement or there will be something that can be implemented? From the first instance, it looks like the government is trying to increase revenue.
Budget 2022 highlights
Capital expenses have been increased by 35.4% from 5.54 lakh crore to 7.5 lakh crore
A national Tele mental health program is going to be launched for mental health counselling
The e-Passport will be rolled out in 2022-23 with an embedded chip for convenience in overseas travel.
1.5 lakh post offices will be included in the core banking system, this will enable the option of net banking, mobile banking, ATM, online transfer of money between the post office and bank accounts and more
Digital ecosystem to be set up to focus on skill improvement.
One class one TV channel program of PM eVidya will be expanded from 12 to 200 channels to provide education in regional languages for classes 1 to 12th.
Digital Rupee to be launched by RBI based on blockchain technology starting 2022-23, and 30% taxes on income from virtual digital assets
No change in the Income-tax slab
Chemical-free farming is going to be promoted to boost the farmer’s income and sustainable agriculture productivity throughout the country
EV battery swapping policy to be introduced, to increase the charging time of the EV’s
The Medical and public health budget has been reduced by 45% from Rs 74,820 crore to Rs 41,011 crore, govt says this is due to less requirement of covid vaccination. It is lower than the 2017-2021 budget.
The defence budget is increased from Rs 4.78 lakh Crore to Rs 5.25 lakh crore
Click here for all the budget 2022 highlights
Budget 2022 Positives
Increasing Capital expenditure is good for the long term if implemented correctly will increase the job opportunity and overall growth
The government is finally addressing the mental health issue, this is a great step towards solving an issue most of us don’t really understand the impact of.
Introducing digital ecosystem for improving skills of the citizen, and providing regional language education. This would really help people on getting better jobs
Chemical-free farming is going to be promoted to boost the farmer’s income and sustainable agriculture productivity throughout the country. This is important, as chemical fertilizers are harmful to us, and our health is affected by this.
The tap-water scheme for 8.7 crore households has achieved up to 5.5 crore households, and on this budget, they have allocated Rs 60000 for providing tap water to the rest of the houses.
Electric car battery swapping is a good option because it is better than charging time. China has already opted for battery swapping tech.
The education budget has risen from Rs 93,223 Crore to 1,04,278 lakh Crore, which is good, but in terms of the new education policy which was released in 2020, the govt said they would increase the education budget to 6% of the total budget.
Budget 2022 Negatives
Again a focus on just showing the big numbers. Increasing capital gains will show a bigger increase in GDP and the government just wants to show Big GDP growth
Cryptocurrency and NFT’s is going to be taxed at 30%, which is kind of good news because we can say the government is recognizing cryptocurrencies, but 30% is a hefty tax, and we have to wait for some kind of amount limit after which the tax will be applicable. Because if there is no amount limit then this will discourage the crypto investors.
The virtual digital assets tax is similar to LTCG, but LTCG has a limit of 2.5 lakh, and we need to see does VDA will have an exemption limit.
The Finance minister also said RBI is going to launch a digital rupee, a cryptocurrency based on blockchain technology. But we have to wait and see, will that digital currency is actually decentralized or not. This currency should not defeat the purpose of decentralization
Unblended petrol and diesel will be charged excise duty of Rs 2 from Oct 2022, isn’t the fuel rates are already high? Why more cess and taxes on fuel. Government just wants to minimize the difference between the high octane fuel and the regular fuel.
Rs 48000 crore has been allocated to 80 lakh units of house, the maths for this doesn’t come right.
The medical budget has been reduced by 45%, really, our health sector is suffering and the govt has reduced the budget. The reason given is less demand for vaccination, is vaccination only thing required. This medical budget is lower than the 2017 budget. Wasnt the PM care fund was supposed to be used for Vaccination?
Unemployment issue
Also, the finance minister didn’t talk about previous promises like why are we still being charged the highest taxes on fuel in the entire world, even after all the loans are been cleared. Why are we not talking about doubling the farmer’s income? What happened to 100 smart cities? Where is the bullet train? Why is unemployment talked about? Sure you can say increasing the capital investment will generate more jobs, but why not solve the current issues and then focus on more investment.
The government can increase the number of government jobs seats, there are a lot of seats empty. Conducting proper exams on time and announcing the results on time. Also conducting the interviews on time can solve the unemployment issue.
But this government would not do that, as it will not reflect in big numbers on paper. I think we should have a plan for the short term, rather than focusing on a 25-year plan. I am not against the long term plan, but having a short term plan will help the real consumers, the working class.
MGNERA budget has been reduced by 25% from Rs 98000 Crore to Rs 73000 Crore, which is again not in favour of employment
No benefits for Middle class
There is literally no benefits for the middle class
The tax slab is kept the same, I think the government believes the middle class has money and was not spending only due to covid, and now they will spend more. They are just focusing on getting more tax from us.
The inflation rate has increased but no change in the income tax rate, though I agree this year the inflation rate has come down, there should be some relief for the middle class, which has the highest consumption of all the class
They are also going to charge a 30% tax on any profits from Digital assets, like NFT and crypto, this means this govt is just trying to suck money from us via taxation
They are saying they are focused on the poor and urban poor, but they are cutting corporate surcharges from 12% to 7%. Yes, poor people have got homes, toilets and water, but they need employment.
Conclusion
This government was focusing on the 75th anniversary of India’s independence and said by 2022, we will achieve a lot, but that year has come, so now they are focusing on the 100th anniversary of India’s independence, which looks like one hell of marketing. This govt is just focusing on big numbers and marketing, rather than solving the core issues. Yes, they have achieved good things, but the promises are way higher than what is implemented. Govt should not focus on showing the big numbers and big words, rather than telling us what happened to the old promises and implementing all the things said on this budget.
