Budget 2023: FM Nirmala Sitharaman to present last full budget of Modi govt 2.0 today
1 min read . Updated: 01 Feb 2023, 07:33 AM IST
Premium- Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her fifth straight budget at a time when the economy is slowing due to global headwinds
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the last full budget of the Modi 2.0 government on today, 1 February 2022. The finance minister will on Wednesday present her fifth straight budget at a time when the economy is slowing due to global headwinds. Budget 2023 will be presented in paperless form just like the previous two union budgets.
The budget session of the Parliament began on Tuesday with President's address. This year's budget session is going to have 27 sittings till April 6 with a month-long recess to examine the budget papers. Part-I of the budget session will conclude on 13 February while Part 2 will reconvene on 21 March and conclude on 6 April.
In today's budget, the Central government will seek to lower its fiscal deficit while offering incentives for investment and stepping up state spending to support an economy that is caught in the global slowdown.
Sitharaman will have to do a tight-rope walk between staying fiscally prudent and general public expectations of lower taxes and a wider social security net, while at the same time firing the engines of the economy before general elections.
Worried over rising public debt, the central government is likely to cut its fiscal deficit to between 5.8% and 5.9% of GDP in 2023/24 from 6.4% in 2022/23, officials have said.
Officials have told the media agency that the Budget 2023 is unlikely to offer major relief to households due to fiscal constraints. However, Finance Minister Sitharaman could tweak tax rules including through an alteration to the structure of the capital gains tax that would encourage investment.
The finance minister is also likely to expand production-linked incentives for more sectors, and new investments to meet India's net-zero carbon emissions goal by 2070.
Yesterday, Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey for the Financial Year 2022-23.
The Economic Survey said that India's economic recovery from the Covid pandemic is complete and the economy is expected to grow in the range of 6% to 6.8% in the coming financial year 2023-24. This is in comparison to 7% this fiscal and 8.7% in 2021-22.
