Budget 2023 HIGHLIGHTS: Key takeaways on income tax changes, custom duty, LTCG, what becomes costlier & cheaper and much more

Budget 2023: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on announced the Union Budget for 2023-24 on Wednesday, February 1. The government's last full-year Budget before the Lok Sabha elections in 2024 focused on the country's infrastructure sector — including a record outlay for the railways — and tax benefits for the salaried middle class, sending waves of cheer on Dalal Street. 

Here are some key highlights of the BJP-led NDA government's last full-year budget ahead of the 2024 general elections: 

Infrastructure

• Record capital outlay of Rs 2.4 lakh crore for Railways
• Enhanced capex of Rs 10 lakh crore for infra development, 3.3 per cent of GDP
• PM Awas affordable housing scheme outlay hiked 66 per cent to Rs 79,000 crore
• 50 new airports and heliports to be made
• Increased capital outlay for infra to crowd in private investment
• Rs 10,000 crore for urban infra fund every year

• Rs 75,000 crore for 100 transport infra projects

Agriculture

• Agri accelerator fund will be set up to encourage agri startups in rural regions
• Agriculture credit target raised to Rs 20 lakh crore
• One crore farmers to be facilitated to adopt natural farming

Defence

• Rs 5.94 lakh crore allocated to defence ministry vs previous year's Rs 5.25 lakh crore
• Rs 1.62 lakh crore set aside for capex towards areas such as purchase of new weapons, aircraft, warships, other military hardware

What becomes cheaper & what gets costlier

• Mobiles, camera lenses to become cheaper
• Gold, silver, diamonds, cigarettes, imported rubber to get more expensive 
• Fully imported luxury cars and EVs to cost more; custom duty raised by 1,000 bps to 70 per cent
• Mobiles, camera lenses to become cheaper
• Gold, silver, diamonds, cigarettes, imported rubber to get more expensive 
• Concessional basic customs duty of 2.5 per cent to continue on copper scrap

Others

• Three AI centres of excellence to be set up
• KYC procedure to be simplified further; PAN to be made common business identifier
• Revamped MSME credit guarantee scheme with infusion of Rs 9,000 crore, to be rolled out on April 1

Savings

• Monthly Income Scheme limit doubled to Rs 9 lakh, Rs 15 lakh for joint accounts
• Senior Citizen Savings Scheme limit doubled to Rs 30 lakh 
• One time new small saving scheme Mahila Samman Savings Certificate to be made available for two years up to 2025; scheme to allow maximum deposit of up to Rs 2 lakh, yield 7.5 per cent interest

Taxes

• Tax exemption on capital goods and lithium batteries

• Higher TDS limit of Rs 3 crore for cooperatives
• Rebate limit increased to Rs 7 lakh in new income tax regime; No. of slabs reduced from seven to five
• Only five per cent tax on individuals wiht annual income of Rs 9 lakh to only pay Rs 45,000 in tax
• Salaried class and pensioner standard deduction increased to Rs 52,000
• Highest tax rate 42.74 per cent brought down

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