From Digital Rupee to digital university: Budget 2022 was all about digitisation

At the offset, the Finance Minister said that Budget 2022 will be a digital one. It will be focused on boosting the digital economy as well as bridging the digital divide, she added. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman then announced certain initiatives as well as regulations to lay the ground for a digital economy. From the Digital Rupee to a digital university, Budget 2022 saw an unprecedented push for digitisation. 

The minister said that India is currently in the ‘Amrit Kaal’, the 25-year lead up to India@100. In these 25 years, the government has certain goals to achieve, including promotion of the digital economy and fintech, technology enabled development, energy transition, and climate action. 

The government aims to enhance the Ease of Doing Business, she said, through its next phase. The second phase of Ease of Doing Business will be driven by digitisation of manual processes and interventions among other things. 

FM Sitharaman added that the government is allocating Rs 1 lakh crore to states for PM GatiShakti-related and other productive capital investments. It will also include components for “digitisation of the economy, including digital payments and completion of OFC network”.