Union Budget 2023 - Live Updates

Nirmala Sitharaman, the finance minister, is delivering the Union Budget 2023 today. The budget for this year is significant since it is the final complete budget before the general elections of 2024. Since 2019, the Finance Minister has presented the budget five times. The Budget for the fiscal year 2023–24 was agreed upon on Wednesday by the Union Cabinet, which is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Let us have a look at the Live Updates of Budget 2023-

Budget 2023: Live Updates

11:02 A.M. – "We hope to build on the foundation laid in the previous Budget," says the Finance Minister.

11:03 A.M. – The Indian economy is regarded as the bright star worldwide. Our economy is predicted to grow at a rate of 7%, the highest among major economies.

11:04 A.M. – Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman says the Indian economy is on the right track and will have a bright future. During the pandemic, we guaranteed that no one went to bed hungry by implementing a free foodgrains programme, says the Finance Minister.

11:05 A.M. – According to the Finance Minister, India's G20 leadership would provide a rare chance to assist strengthen a new international order.

11:07 A.M. – According to the Finance Minister, the Indian economy has grown much more structured, with EPFO membership tripling. According to the Deloitte Insta Analysis, digital infrastructure and Covid vaccines have helped India stay on pace.

11:15 A.M. – According to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, "we are launching a programme to distribute free food grain to all Antyodaya and priority households for one year under PM Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana" beginning January 1, 2023.

11:10 A.M. – Since 2014, the government's efforts have provided a higher quality of life and a life of dignity for all residents. To Rs 1.97 lakh, per capita income has more than doubled. According to the Finance Minister, India's economy has grown from 10th to 5th largest in the world in the last nine years.

11:19 A.M. – The 7 Budget priorities are as follows:

• Development that includes everyone
• Getting to the last mile
• Infrastructure and investment
• Realizing the potential
• Green expansion
• Youth Influence
• Financial industry

11:20 A.M. – According to Finance Minister Nirmala, the government would begin the Atma Nirbhar Clean Plant Programme to increase the availability of disease-free quality planting material for high-value horticulture crops at a cost of Rs 2,200 crores.

11:22 A.M. – An agriculture accelerator fund to help young entrepreneurs in rural regions to launch agritech firms. According to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the fund would focus on delivering new solutions to farmers' problems.

11:24 A.M. – PM Vishwakarma Kaushal Samman has devised a package of help for traditional craftsmen and craftspeople that would enable them to increase the quality, scalability, and reach of their goods while integrating into the MSME value chain.

11:28 A.M. – With an expenditure of Rs 2,516 crore, the government has also begun computerization for 63,000 primary agricultural credit organizations.

11:29 A.M. – According to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the government would introduce a sub-scheme under the PM Matsya Sampada Yojana with an investment of Rs 6,000 crore to further empower individuals interested in fishing.

11:31 A.M. – According to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the government plans to establish a national digital library for children and adolescents to compensate for the learning loss caused by the epidemic.

11:34 A.M. – PMP BTG Development mission will be started to saturate PBTG habitations with basic facilities in order to ameliorate the social-economic situation of the Particularly Tribal Groups. According to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Rs 15,000 crore would be made available to implement the plan over the next three years.

11:35 A.M. – Eklavya Model Residential Schools - According to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Centre would hire 38,800 teachers and support personnel for 740 schools servicing 3.5 lakh tribal kids over the next three years.

11:36 A.M. – The budget for the PM Awaas Yojana has been increased by 66% to over Rs 79,000 crores, according to the Finance Minister.

11:40 A.M. – According to the Finance Minister, capital investment would be boosted by 33% to Rs 10 lakh crores, or 3.3% of GDP.

11:41 A.M. – Railways would get a capital outlay of Rs 2.40 lakh crore, a 9x increase over FY14, according to the Finance Minister.

11:42 A.M. – The Finance Minister has said that the 50-year interest-free loan to state governments has been extended for another year.

11:46 A.M. – 50 new airports, heliports, water aerodromes, and advanced landing zones will be built. According to the Finance Minister, 100 essential transport infrastructure projects for the steel, ports, fertilizer, coal, and foodgrain sectors have been identified, with an investment of Rs. 75,000 crore, including Rs 15,000 crore from private sources.

11:47 A.M. – According to the Finance Minister, for businesses that are obliged to obtain a Permanent Account Number, the PAN would be utilized as a standard identification for all Digital Systems of selected government entities.

11:51 A.M. – Priority capital of Rs 35,000 crores for energy transformation. According to the Finance Minister, battery storage would get viability gap financing.

11:55 A.M. – The National Hydrogen Mission has been awarded Rs 19,700 crore by the Finance Minister. The goal is to have a capacity of 5 million tonnes of hydrogen production by 2030.

11:58 A.M. – The government will launch the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0, according to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. She stated that 30 Skill India Foreign Centres will be established across various states to prepare youth for international possibilities.

11:59 A.M. – According to the Finance Minister, the 50 tourist spots will be chosen through a challenge method and developed as a comprehensive package for local and international tourism.

12.01 P.M. – According to the Finance Minister, the revamped credit guarantee plan for MSMEs would go into action on April 1, 2023, with an investment of Rs 9,000 crore into the corpus. This would provide MSMEs with an extra Rs 2 lakh crore in collateral-free finance.

12.04 P.M. – According to the Finance Minister, a National Data Governance Policy would be released to spur innovation and research by startups and academia. This allows access to anonymised data.

12.06 P.M. – According to the Finance Minister, one crore farmers would receive help to transition to natural farming over the next three years. 10,000 bio input resource centers will be established.

12.10 P.M. – According to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the government would establish a National Financial Information Registry to act as a single repository of financial and auxiliary information.

12.10 P.M. – The Finance Minister has set the fiscal deficit for 2023-24 at 5.9%. Furthermore, the revised fiscal deficit is 6.4% of GDP. Further, "I reiterate my intention to bring the fiscal deficit below 4.5% of GDP by 2025-26", says FM.

12.16 P.M. – In engineering institutions, 100 labs for building apps leveraging 5G services will be established. According to the Finance Minister, laboratories will encompass programs such as Smart Classrooms, Precision Farming, Intelligent Transportation Systems, and Healthcare to realize a new variety of options, business models, and job potential.

12.19 P.M. – Gold, silver, and diamonds will become more costly; customs on kitchen chimneys will be reduced; and cigarettes will become more expensive as the budget recommends a 16% increase in tax, according to the Finance Minister.

12.20 P.M. – With the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana allocation increasing 66% to Rs 79,000 crore next fiscal year, more than 55% of the expected financial deficit for projects under the plan is covered. According to the Finance Minister, this should aid in the timely development of urban and rural housing.

12.24 P.M. – The Finance Minister is making five key statements about Income Tax.

• Income of Rs 0-3 lakh is exempt under the new tax regime.
• Under the new regime, income beyond Rs 3 lakh and up to Rs 5 lakh would be taxed at 5%.
• Income beyond Rs 6 lakh and up to Rs 9 lakh would be taxed at a rate of 10% under the new system.
• Under the new regime, income beyond Rs 12 lakh and up to Rs 15 lakh would be taxed at 20%.
• Income over Rs 15 lakh will be taxed at 30%.

12.38 P.M. – According to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the new tax system will now be the default tax regime, although residents can still take advantage of advantages under the old tax regime on an opt-out basis.

12.40 P.M. – Nirmala Sitharaman's statements boosted the benchmark BSE Sensex by over 1,000 points, taking it beyond the 60,500 level. The wider NSE Nifty is up 258 points to 17,920.

12.42 P.M. – Lab Grown Diamonds (LGD) is a high-potential developing sector driven by technology and creativity. These eco-friendly diamonds have the same optical and chemical qualities as genuine diamonds. A five-year research and development fund would be awarded to one of the IITs to boost domestic production of LGD seeds and machinery and minimize import reliance. 75. Part B of the speech will include a recommendation to examine the custom duty rate on LGD seeds in order to lower production costs.

12.45 P.M. – The FY23 divestiture objective has been reduced to Rs 50k crore.

12.46 P.M. – MSMEs, major businesses, and charity trusts will be able to use an Entity DigiLocker. This will be for securely storing and exchanging documents online with various authorities, regulators, banks, and other corporate organizations as needed.