The A to Z of FM Sitharaman's Budget 2023 — alphabetically yours

Capex, consumption and credit. The Modi government's last full Budget before the 2024 General Elections mixed pragmatism with prudence, deciding to stick to infrastructure development and demand spike to boost growth.

If you happened to miss the Finance Minister's 1 hour 27-minute speech, here's the A to Z of the Union Budget.

Accelerator funds for agri startups, a higher target of Rs 20 lakh crore for AGRICULTURE

credit with a focus on animal husbandry, dairy & fisheries, FM Sitharaman highlighted that farmers remain a top priority. The announcements for the agriculture sector should also be seen from the prism of politics. This was the last full budget before the 2024 General elections.

Reforms to spruce up governance in the BANKING sector found a mention in the budget document as well. The Finance Minister proposed certain amendments to the Banking Regulation Act, the Banking Companies Act and the Reserve Bank of India Act to improve bank governance & enhance investor protection. DEA Secretary Ajay Seth told CNBC-TV18 that ''Banking law changes could address board representation among others''.

A bigger bet on CAPEX was one of the key highlights of the Budget. With one eye set on shoring up demand and another on boosting consumption, the FM budgeted for a 33 percent higher capital investment outlay of Rs 10 lakh crore. That tantamounts to 3.3 percent of India's GDP.

The government has also tempered its expectations on DIVESTMENT, factoring in receipts of Rs 51,000 cr for the next fiscal. The pragmatism was perhaps not lost on us, since it fell short of its Rs 65,000 cr aim this fiscal. Defence, the other D however got top billing with an allocation of Rs 4.32 lakh crore. As per the budget documents. 8 paise of every rupee the Government spends would go to the defence arsenal.

The EDUCATION sector must have a reason to smile. Well, for starters, the allocation of Rs 1.12 lakh crore is the highest granted to the ministry ever. The government among other things has proposed a national digital library for children and adolescents, 157 nursing colleges and 30 skill centres across states.

The Budget stressed that Govt wouldn't compromise on fiscal prudence. The FM said that the Government was sticking to its FISCAL glide path, and added that they would achieve the 6.4 percent deficit target this fiscal. As per budget documents, the fiscal deficit has been projected at 5.9 percent of GDP in FY24. The FM vowed to bring the deficit down to 4.5 percent by FY26.

A Rs 35,000 crore allocation in priority capital investment towards GREEN energy pivot, energy sustainability was one of the hallmarks of the Union Budget. In fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his post-budget address said, "budget will work for green growth, green infra, green jobs, green economy,"

The Budget provided a strong foundation for affordable HOUSING as well. The PM Awas scheme outlay has been hiked by 66 percent to over Rs 79,000 crore.

There are sweeteners for the salaried middle class in the Budget as well, but only for those under the New INCOME Tax Regime. The government, in a bid to push the adoption of the new regime, has pruned the number of tax slabs and cut taxes The rebate threshold has been hiked from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7 lakh. There's more. The new income tax regime is now the default tax regime, Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra said that over 60 percent of income tax mop-up in FY23 came from the new tax regime.

JOBS, infrastructure and consumption boost was the overarching theme of the Budget with several states staring at elections this year. The FM, while hiking the capex allocation stressed the need to once again ramp up the virtuous cycle of investment and job creation.

The Budget allocated Rs 1,000 cr towards KHELO India. The scheme looks at reviving India's sports culture and was launched in 2018.

The Centre will continue extending 50-year interest-free LOANS to state governments for one more year. The FM however had a caveat. She said the loan has to be spent on capital expenditure within the next fiscal itself.

There has been a fund allocation cut for Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, the government's flagship rural employment scheme. The Govt has earmarked  Rs 60,000 crore towards MGNREGA in FY24. The revised estimate for FY23 now stands at Rs 89,400 crore. However, a lower MNREGA budget could also imply that the Government is bracing for fewer unemployed people in rural India next fiscal.

The North Block top brass clarified their budget NUMBERS during their interactions with CNBC-TV18. Finance Secretary TV Somanathan said that they had given realistic estimates and may over-achieve on the targets as well.

Interest payments at  Rs 10.80 lakh crore are the Government's biggest OUTLAY. In short, 20 paise of every rupee the Government would intend to spend next fiscal would go towards interest payments.

The Budget continued with the government's agenda of plugging tax arbitrage options used by the ultra-rich. The Finance Minister proposed that an individual would have to pay tax on the maturity amount if the total life insurance PREMIUM paid in a year exceeds Rs 5 lakh. However, tax exemption on money received by beneficiaries on the death of the insured will not be affected.

The Government is targetting gross tax REVENUES worth Rs 33 lakh crore. Close to 25 percent of that would come from income tax collections.

The Budget pruned the government's SUBSIDY bill by 28 percent in the next fiscal. Fuel subsidy takes the biggest hit, and is pruned by 75 percent. The North Block said they were hoping  OMCs will no longer have to take the hit.

A capital outlay of Rs 2.40 lakh crore for Indian TRAINS. This is the highest ever capital outlay for railways to date and is 9 times higher than the FY14 budget.

URBAN India received a fillip. The government has proposed to set up a Rs 10,000 cr per year Urban Infrastructure Development Fund. The FM said that the fund would be managed by the National Housing Bank and will be used by public agencies to create infrastructure in tier-2 & tier-3 cities.

VIVAD Se Vishwas-2 is on the cards. The FM in her Budget speech said that another dispute resolution scheme to settle commercial disputes would come into effect.

All hail WOMAN power. A one-time scheme, Mahila Samman Savings Certificate will allow women to deposit a maximum of up to Rs 2 lakh with 7.5 percent interest. The scheme will be available for 2 years upto March 2025.

X factor: The Budget spares the rich, and maintains the tax rate on long-term and short-term capital gains tax. The current LTCG tax rate is 10 percent without indexation and is applied on gains exceeding ₹1 lakh on listed equity shares per fiscal year.

The FM listed YOUTH power as one of her Budget priority areas. Direct Benefit Transfer under a pan-India National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme will be rolled out to provide stipend support to 47 lakh youth in 3 years.

ZERO. That's how much the Budget allocated towards the recapitalisation of Public Sector Banks.