Budget 2022: From digital currency to crypto tax; here are the key highlights 

This year’s Budget address was noteworthy on many counts. It was the shortest address by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in 4 years. Her Budget speech lasted for 90 minutes from 11 am to 12:30 pm as against her last year’s speech which was 162 minutes long. During the speech, Sitharaman said that the Indian economy is estimated to grow by 9.2 per cent in the current financial year. She also announced an increase in the capex outlay. 

Besides this, the Finance Minister also apprised the people of the upcoming digital currency, which will be rolled out by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). From announcements on digital currency to taxpayers getting to file their returns again in case of an error, here are the top 10 takeaways from the Budget:

•    Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman pegged India’s economic growth in the current year at 9.2 per cent, the highest among all large economies. 
•    Fiscal deficit for FY22 was pegged at 6.9 per cent of GDP, while the government is targeting a fiscal deficit of 6.4 per cent in FY23.
•    The capital expenditure has been increased by 35.4 per cent to Rs 7.50 lakh crore in 2022-23.
•    States have been allowed to have a higher deficit of 4 per cent of the GSDP. 
•    Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government will launch digital rupee using blockchain and other technologies. The digital rupee will be issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and will be launched within 2022-23. 
•    The government has also decided to impose 30 per cent tax on income from digital assets. Losses from sale of digital assets cannot be offset against other income, according to Sitharaman. 
•    Sitharaman said that the government has further simplified the tax system with the new income tax returns rule. As per this rule, taxpayers can file an updated return within 2 years of the filed IT return of an assessment. 
•    The Finance Minister also announced that the tax on cooperative societies will be reduced to 15 per cent in order to provide a level playing field between cooperatives and corporates. 
•    Finance Minister also talked about the Productivity Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for 14 sectors during the speech. She said it has the potential to create 60 lakh new jobs and an additional production of Rs 30 lakh crore during the next 5 years. 
•    According to Sitharaman, the government aims to attain the India@100 vision by achieving certain goals. These goals are – (a) complementing the macro-economic level growth focus with a micro-economic level all-inclusive welfare focus; (b) promoting digital economy and fintech, technology enabled development, energy transition and climate; and (c) relying on virtuous cycle from private investment with public capital investment helping to crowd-in private investment. 

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