Budget 2022 To Lay Blueprint For Coming 25 Years: FM Sitharaman; India Eyes 9.2% Growth Rate

New Delhi: This Union Budget seeks to lay the foundation and give a blueprint of the economy over ‘Amrit Kal’ of next 25 years – from India at 75 to India at 100, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told Parliament on Tuesday.

She said that there was a sharp increase in public investment and capital expenditure in Budget 2021-22 and this Budget will benefit youth, women, farmers, SC and ST.

“We are in the midst of the Omicron wave, the speed of our vaccination campaign has helped greatly. I am confident that ‘Sabka Prayaas’, we will continue with strong growth guided by PM Gati Shakti master plan,” said Sitharaman.

The Union Finance Minister said that India is set to clock a growth rate of 9.2 per cent, which could be the highest in the world in the current fiscal.

PRIORITIES

“Moving forward on this parallel track, we lay the following four priorities – PM Gati Shakti, inclusive development, productivity enhancement and investment, sunrise opportunities, energy transition and climate action and financing of investments,” she said.

INFRASTRUCTURE

PM Gati Shakti Master Plan for Expressways will facilitate faster movement of people and goods. The NH network will be expanded by 25,000 km in 2022-23 and Rs. 20,000 crore will be mobilized to complement public resources, she said.

The Finance Minister announced that 400 new generation Vande Bharat trains with better efficiency will be rolled out in the next 3 years and 100 PM Gati Shakti Cargo terminals will be developed during the period, besides implementation of innovative ways for building metro systems.

EMPLOYMENT

“Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme will help create 60 lakh new jobs and additional production of 30 lakh crore during the next Keycap digit five years in a major step towards achieving Aatmanirbhar Bharat,” she said.

MSMEs such as Udyam, e-shram, NCS & Aseem portals will be interlinked and their scope will be widened. These will now perform as portals with live organic databases providing G-C, B-C & B-B services such as credit facilitation,enhancing entrepreneurial opportunities, she said.

AGRICULTURE

FM Sitharaman said that procurement of wheat in Rabi season 2021-22 and the estimated procurement of paddy in Kharif season 2021-22 will give cover 1208 lakh metric tonnes of wheat and paddy from 163 lakh farmers& Rs 2.37 lakh crores will be the direct payment of MSP value to their accounts:

“Chemical-free natural farming will be promoted throughout the country with a focus on farmers’ land in 5 km wide corridors along the river Ganga, in the first stage,” she added.

EDUCATION

‘One class, one TV channel’ program of PM eVIDYA will be expanded from 12 to 200 TV channels. This will enable all states to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1 to 12.