New Delhi: The Centre’s big capital expenditure push in FY23 will create employment and growth opportunities in the economy, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday.
Accordingly, the Union Budget FY23 presented in the Parliament on Tuesday provided a massive outlay of Rs 7.50 lakh crore for capital expenditure to sustain the high growth rate.
The Budget 2022-23 proposed to increase the capital budget outlay by over 35 percent from Rs 5.54 lakh crore in FY22.
In the post-Budget press conference held here, Sitharaman cited that a sharp rise in capital expenditure outlay will have a positive impact on job creation.
Besides, she pointed out that the ‘Production Linked Incentive’ scheme for 14 sectors will also be a trigger for job creation.
On revenue augmentation during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Sitharaman said that the Centre did not increase tax rate during the last two years, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s instruction of not putting any additional tax burden on the common man during the pandemic.
She also said that the Centre will be able to achieve realistic assessments of FY23 fiscal numbers “or even better them”.
Sitharamn cited that the Centre has been proven right on the FY22 fiscal assessments.
The Budget has an estimated total expenditure of about Rs 39.45 lakh crore, whereas, total receipts other than borrowings have been pegged at Rs 22.84 lakh crore.
She also said that the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee (ECLG) scheme has been a proven formula which has worked well for the MSMEs and that it has been extended and enhanced by Rs 50,000 crore for the hospitality and related sectors.