Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister of India on Monday announced the Budget for the year 2021-22 in Parliament. She said that preparation of this budget was undertaken in a situation like never before and mentioned about the declaration of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana during the lockdown that provided free food, cooking gas and cash to the people in need.
The total financial impact of all the Atmanirbhar Bharat packages, including the measures taken by RBI, was estimated about to be ₹27.1 lakh crore, which amounts to 13 per cent of the GDP, the FM stated.
Finance Minister announced in her budget 2021 informed that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the insurance sector has been growing from 49 per cent to 74 per cent.
In her Budget speech, she mentioned the increase of capital expenditure to ₹5.54 lakh crore in Budget 2021-22 which is approximately 34 per cent more than last year.
With a view to boosting the health care sector in India, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that a total of Rs. 64,180 crore will be sanctioned for the ‘PM Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana’ over a period of six years.
Sitharaman disclosed ₹35,000 crore for COVID-19 vaccines in 2021, and the arrival of two more vaccines other than Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Serum Institute’s Covishield.
According to the Finance Minister, Health and Well-Being, Physical and Financial capital and infrastructure, Inclusive Development for Aspirational India, Reinvigorating Human Capital, Innovation and R&D, and Minimum Government, and Maximum Governance are the six pillars of Budget 2021.
In order to achieve a $5 trillion economy, the manufacturing sector has to increase in double digits. Sitharaman further announced a voluntary scrapping policy to eliminate old vehicles. Fitness test will be held in which passenger vehicles will go through the test after 20 years and commercial vehicles after 15 years.
In addition, Rs. 18,000 crore has been earmarked for public transport.
The Finance Minister relieved senior citizens by announcing that the compliance burden will be reduced for 75 years and above. Senior citizens with only one pension and interest scheme are spared from filing income tax returns.
Finance Minister advanced three steps for the National Pipeline which includes the creation of institutional structures, monetising assets, and enhancing the share of capex in state and central budgets.
She announced ₹20,000 crore for Development Financial Institution which focuses on a portfolio of five lakh crore in three years.
The budget allocates ₹1.1 lakh crore to Indian Railways out of which ₹1.07 lakh crore will go for capital expenditure.
Supplementary Nutrition Programme and POSHAN Abhiyaan will be integrated and Mission POSHAN 2.0 will be launched. It will aim at boosting nutritional content, delivery, and outcome for improving the nutritional outcomes.
Nirmala Sitharaman also announced that the government would permeate ₹20,000 crore into public sector banks in 2021-22, to meet the regulatory norms. For 2021, the government had decided to make a provision of ₹20,000 crore for recapitalisation.