10 Things to Know About the 2023 Union Budget

Every year the budget session comes and Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman presents the tablet (previously it was a briefcase) and that is not just an ordinary tablet that’s the hope of the nation. During the UPA government the budget session use to have in March, but the NDA government set the budget session in February every year. The Union Budget 2023-24 will be presented by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on February 1, 2023.

Now let’s come on to the primary discussion, hardly a week left from the budget (while writing). So what could we expect and what are those things to know about the 2023-24 budget? Well at this moment we can assume and connect the dots.

Indian business leaders are convinced that Budget 2023–24 will support economic growth across sectors and industries, despite a possible global downturn and geopolitical unrest. They forecast that the Indian economy will grow by more than 6.5% during this time, a pre-budget survey by Deloitte India, a financial service provider firm, states.

But before that do you know when India had their first ever budget? 

India’s first Budget was announced in pre-independent India, on April 7, 1860, when Scottish economist and politician James Wilson – of the East India Company – presented it to the British Crown.
Post Independence, India’s first budget was presented on November 26, 1947 by then Finance Minister R K Shanmukham Chetty.

Here are some expectations we believe the majority of the Indians expect.

1. The government’s digitalization initiative is playing an important role, with approximately 60% of respondents believing that the recent push has been beneficial to the sector, the survey tells.
2. Business leaders anticipate that the government will take steps to increase industry demand. Almost half of those polled believe that additional tax breaks could spur growth in their respective industries.
3. According to the survey, around 58 percent of respondents believe that collaborating aggressively with the private sector to create and complete digital projects will boost digitization efforts. For i.e., Tejas was the first privately owned train running under the Indian Railway authority.
4. Using Indian government bonds to raise funds is recommended by 60% of respondents. This percentage has increased by 14% over the previous year.
5. Around 60 percent of the respondents believe that increasing PPP (Purchasing power parity) could benefit the economy by focusing on dispute resolution and risk management, especially for private participants.
6. Increased Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes, according to approximately 58% of respondents, are the best way to increase industrial exports.
7. Business leaders believe that the government should take advantage of the weakening of manufacturing economies. They advocate for competitive import tariffs.
8. Making tax compliance easier, according to more than 66% of respondents, would be the most beneficial direct tax-related improvement.
9. Changing personal taxation would benefit the citizens, according to 70 percent of the response.
10. More than 60% anticipate an increase in the maximum tax exemption and deduction amounts.

Note- The number is based on research by surveys, therefore the numbers might change post-budget.

Apart from these we are pretty much sure that the government will increase the budget in defence sector also we could expect the the boost in Make in India initiative, Startup India and IT. Surprisingly we could also expect some rules for companies in the case of big layoffs.

The world always keeps an eye on India’s budget, the budget decides how the nation will move for the next 12 months. We will come back with the new article post-budget session.

Karan Jain

Born in the family of entrepreneurs and have inherited the same. Started building applications in order to pay for my tuition. Later founded a tech company, marketing agency, and media outlets.