Fiscal deficit for the financial year 2021-22 pegged at 6.8 percent.

The Total resources being transferred to the states including the devolution of states share, grants, loans and releases under centrally sponsored scheme etc in budget estimate for the fiscal is 13 lakh 88 thousand 502 crore rupees which shows an increase of 74 thousand 565 crores over revised estimate of 2020-21.

By March 2022, another 8,500 kms will be awarded to complete an additional 11,000 kms of national highway corridors.
An enhanced outlay of over 1.18 lakh crores for Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is provided of which over 1.08 lakh crores is for capital, the highest ever.

Indian Railways have prepared a National Rail Plan for India – 2030 to create a ‘future ready’ Railway system by 2030; It is expected that Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) and Eastern DFC will be commissioned by June 2022.

A record sum of over 1.10 lakh crore rupees is provided for Railways of which over 1.07 lakh crores is for capital expenditure.
A new scheme will be launched at a cost of 18,000 crore rupees to support augmentation of public bus transport services.
Two new technologies – ‘MetroLite’ and ‘MetroNeo’ will be deployed to provide metro rail systems in Tier-2 cities and peripheral areas of Tier-1 cities.  
A revamped power distribution sector scheme will also be launched with an outlay of over 3.05 lakh crores  over 5 years.

National Highway works of around 19,000 crores are currently in progress in the State of Assam. Further works of more than 34,000 crores covering more than 1300 kms of National Highways will be undertaken in the State in the coming three years.

The Finance Minister said, the domestic electronic manufacturing has grown rapidly. We are now exporting items like mobiles and chargers. For greater domestic value addition, a few exemptions on parts of chargers and sub-parts of mobiles are being withdrawn.  Further, some parts of mobiles will move from ‘nil’ rate to a moderate 2.5 per cent.

The customs duty rates on chemicals have been calibrated to encourage domestic value addition and to remove inversions.  Apart from other items, customs duty on Naptha to 2.5 per cent is being reduced to correct inversion.

Gold and silver presently attract a basic customs duty of 12.5 per cent. Since the duty was raised from 10 per cent in July 2019, prices of precious metals have risen sharply. To bring it closer to previous levels, custom duty on gold and silver is being rationalized.

The Finance Minister quoted Rabindra Nath Tagore.

To give a boost to fisheries in the country, the government has proposed substantial investments in the development of modern fishing harbours and fish landing centres. To start with, 5 major fishing harbours – Kochi, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Paradip, and Petuaghat – will be developed as hubs of economic activity. It will also develop inland fishing harbours and fish-landing centres along the banks of rivers and waterways.

The Finance Minister informed that One Nation One Ration Card plan is under implementation by 32 states and UTs, reaching about 69 crore beneficiaries, covering 86 per cent  of total beneficiaries. She said the remaining 4 states and UTs will be brought under One Nation One Ration Card plan in next few months.

Government has decided to extend social security benefits to gig and platform workers for the first time. Minimum wages will apply to all categories of workers, and they will all be covered by the Employees State Insurance Corporation. Women will be allowed to work in all categories and also in night-shifts with adequate protection. At the same time, compliance burden on employers will be reduced with single registration and licensing, and online returns.

To further facilitate credit flow under the scheme of Stand Up India for SCs, STs, and women, Government has reduced the margin money requirement from 25 to 15 per cent, and to also include loans for activities allied to agriculture.
The government has also taken a number of steps to support the MSME sector. It has provided 15,700 crore rupees to this sector in the next fiscal, more than double of this year’s Budget Estimates.

In School Education, more than 15,000 schools will be qualitatively strengthened to include all components of the National Education Policy. These schools will emerge as exemplar schools in their regions, handholding and mentoring other schools to achieve the ideals of the Policy.
Government will also set up 100 new Sainik Schools in partnership with NGOs, private schools and states.

Government will bring Legislation this year to set up Higher Education Commission of India. It will be an umbrella body having 4 separate vehicles for standard-setting, accreditation, regulation, and funding.

Government will also set up a Central University in Leh to ensure access to higher education in Ladakh.

Government has allocated 35,219 crore rupees for the Post Matric Scholarship Scheme till 2025-2026, to benefit 4 crore SC students.
It has also increased the unit cost of Eklavya Model Residential Schools in tribal areas from 20 to 38 crore rupees and that of 48 crore rupees in hilly and difficult areas. This would help in creating robust infrastructure facilities for tribal students.

Government has decided to set up a National Nursing and Midwifery Commission to ensure transparency, efficiency and governance reforms in the nursing profession. Government will bring a Bill in this regard.

The Finance Minister has provided 1,000 crore rupees for the welfare of Tea workers especially women and their children in Assam and West Bengal. A special scheme will be devised for the same.
Government has allocated 3,768 crore rupees for the forthcoming Census, which will be the first digital census in the history of India.

To give a further boost to the non-conventional energy sector, the Government has provided additional capital infusion of 1,000 crore rupees to Solar Energy Corporation of India and 1,500 crore rupees to Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency.  

Government has also decided to revise the definition under the Companies Act, 2013 for Small Companies by increasing their thresholds for Paid up capital from not exceeding 50 Lakh rupees to not exceeding 2 Crore rupees and turnover from not exceeding 2 Crore rupees to not exceeding 20 Crore rupees. This will benefit more than two lakh companies in easing their compliance requirements.