What are the key takeaways from Budget 2022?

 While tabling her fourth Budget, Nirmala Sitharaman said that it will lay the foundation for the next 25 year’s economic growth. Let us examine what this Budget has in store for the country

Budget 2022 saw a sharp increase in capital expenditure and the government committing enhanced support for the hospitality sector and related services. There was also an announcement that a digital rupee, using Blockchain, would be issued by the RBI soon. Among other things, the government also rejigged the customs duty structure.

The share of the Budget allocated to capital expenditure is the highest in 19 years. Budget 2022 has allocated 7.5 trillion rupees to capital expenditure. This is 35.4 per cent higher than the previous year’s allocation of 5.5 trillion rupees. It amounts to 19.02 per cent of the Budget’s total expenditure of 39.45 trillion rupees. The last time that the capital expenditure share touched a similar figure was when it came in at 19.32 per cent for the financial year 2004-05.

U R Bhat, co-founder and director at Alphaniti Fintech, has said that the thrust of Union Budget 2022 has been on infrastructure modernisation, adding that this will have a multiplier effect as far as job creation and economic growth are concerned. He emphasised that the government has refrained from doling out any kind of loan ahead of the Assembly elections in some states. The budget, he said, focuses on the next few years and not the elections.