Quick Highlights/Summary Of The Union Budget 2023-24

Here are quick highlights and summary of the Union Budget 2023-24:

- The total receipts other than borrowings for FY2022-23 is estimated to be Rs 24.3 lakh crore, of which the net tax receipts are Rs 20.9 lakh crore.

- Rebate limit of Personal Income Tax to be increased to Rs 7 lakh from the current Rs 5 lakh in the new tax regime. Thus, persons in the new tax regime, with income up to Rs. 7 lakh to not pay any tax.

- Proposal to extend the benefit of standard deduction of Rs. 50,000 to salaried individual, and deduction from family pension up to Rs. 15,000, in the new tax regime.

- Highest surcharge rate to reduce from 37 per cent to 25 per cent in the new tax regime. This to further result in reduction of the maximum personal income tax rate to 39 per cent.

- The limit for tax exemption on leave encashment on retirement of non-government salaried employees to increase to Rs. 25 lakh.

- The new income tax regime to be made the default tax regime. However, citizens will continue to have the option to avail the benefit of the old tax regime.

- Revised tax slabs for new tax regime structure introduced in 2020 with six income slabs, to change by reducing the number of slabs to five and increasing the tax exemption limit to Rs. 3 lakh. Change to provide major relief to all tax payers in the new regime.

- Mahila Samman Savings Certificate to be launched. It will offer deposit facility upto Rs 2 lakh in the name of women or girls for tenure of 2 years (up to March 2025) at fixed interest rate of 7.5 per cent with partial withdrawal option.

- The maximum deposit limit for Senior Citizen Savings Scheme to be enhanced from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 30 lakh. The maximum deposit limit for Monthly Income Account Scheme to be enhanced from - Rs 4.5 lakh to Rs 9 lakh for single account and from Rs 9 lakh to Rs 15 lakh for joint account.

- EPFO membership has more than doubled to 27 crore, 7,400 crore digital payments of ₹126 lakh crore has taken place through UPI in 2022. TDS rate to be reduced from 30 per cent to 20 per cent on taxable portion of EPF withdrawal in non-PAN cases. 47.8 crore PM Jan Dhan bank accounts and 47.8 crore PM Jan Dhan bank accounts.

- A new sub-scheme of PM Matsya Sampada Yojana with targeted investment of ₹6,000 crore to be launched to further enable activities of fishermen, fish vendors, and micro & small enterprises, improve value chain efficiencies, and expand the market.

- Per capita income has more than doubled to Rs1.97 lakh in around nine years and effective Capital Expenditure' of Centre to be Rs. 13.7 lakh crore.

- Estimates for 2022-2023 were revised; The total expenditure is Rs 41.9 lakh crore, of which the capital expenditure is about Rs 7.3 lakh crore. The fiscal deficit is 6.4 per cent of GDP, adhering to the Budget Estimate.

- Budget estimates for 2023-2024; The total receipts other than borrowings is estimated at Rs 27.2 lakh crore and the total expenditure is estimated at Rs 45 lakh crore. The net tax receipts are estimated at Rs 23.3 lakh crore. The fiscal deficit is estimated to be 5.9 per cent of GDP. To finance the fiscal deficit in 2023-24, the net market borrowings from dated securities are estimated at Rs 11.8 lakh crore. The gross market borrowings are estimated at Rs 15.4 lakh crore.

- Urban Infrastructure Development Fund (UIDF) will be established through use of priority Sector Lending shortfall, which will be managed by the national Housing Bank, and will be used by public agencies to create urban infrastructure in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. New Infrastructure Finance Secretariat established to enhance opportunities for private investment in infrastructure.

- Entity DigiLocker to be setup for use by MSMEs, large business and charitable trusts to store and share documents online securely. One stop solution for reconciliation and updation of identity and address of individuals to be established using DigiLocker service and Aadhaar as foundational identity. PAN will be used as the common identifier for all digital systems of specified government agencies to bring in Ease of Doing Business.

- Deduction from capital gains on investment in residential house under sections 54 and 54F to be capped at Rs. 10 crore for better targeting of tax concessions and exemptions. Income from Market Linked Debentures to be taxed. Conversion of gold into electronic gold receipt and vice versa not to be treated as capital gain.

- Proposal to limit income tax exemption from proceeds of insurance policies with very high value. Where aggregate of premium for life insurance policies (other than ULIP) issued on or after 1st April, 2023 is above Rs. 5 lakh, income from only those policies with aggregate premium up to Rs. 5 lakh shall be exempt.

- Minimum threshold of Rs10,000/- for TDS to be removed and taxability relating to online gaming to be clarified. Proposal to provide for TDS and taxability on net winnings at the time of withdrawal or at the end of the financial year.