"Budget 2023-24 is an Infrastructure Spending oriented budget with 7 priorities set by the FM. The budget unveiled tax cuts and set the virtuous cycle of job creation. Out of the overall growth agenda, specifically looking at Banking sector, there are two major proposals. Firstly, on Agricultural credit, the target is hiked to Rs 20 Lakh crore, which will help drive rural growth. Additionally, the revamped credit guarantee scheme for MSMEs, with infusion of Rs 9,000 crore into the corpus, will enable additional collateral-free credit guarantee of Rs 2 lakh crore."
“Kudos to the FM for delivering a growth-centric budget – the first budget of Amrit Kaal. The markets after giving an initial thumbs up have since petered down - typical of budget-day reactions. To me, this is overall a win-win budget. With an increased capital outlay, the budget promotes ease of doing business, infrastructure growth, Agri-tech and a digital India. At the same time, the budget scores well on the social agenda – it promotes inclusive growth, women welfare, skilling, green energy, and green mobility. There is relief on the personal tax front including an increase in rebate limit to Rs. 7 lakhs in the new tax regime and a reduction in the highest surcharge from 37% to 25%, thus bringing down the maximum rate to 39%.
We would have liked to see a few strategic announcements in the Insurance Sector- such as an increase in FDI to 100%, a reduction in the Tax rate for Foreign Reinsurance Branches, and the introduction of Captives. We were also expecting some Tax concessions such as a reduction of the GST rate on health & life insurance from 18% to 5%, creating a separate section for Life insurance premium exemptions instead of including it in an already crowded 80C and an increase in the maximum deduction for tax benefits from health insurance premiums from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh under 80 D. With a forward-looking government, I am sanguine that we will see more on these areas in the time to come.”
"Speaking ahead of the budget, Mr Vasu Naren, Director & CEO, Sona Machinery, said: “The economic forecast for 2023–24 is rather unpredictable, owing to the threat posed by climate change and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have led to a sharp spike in the cost of crude oil, food products, and wheat worldwide. To continue towards a stable course at this point, carefully considered actions to improve domestic sources of development would be essential. Along with actions to increase employment, capacity utilisation, and social infrastructure, measures to lower the cost of capital, electricity, logistics, land, and labour would be highly appreciated. Factory-level operations and increased revenues in the agricultural sector are essential for the expansion of private investments."
"More than 50% of the population in India depends on agriculture for their livelihoods. Agriculture is also the 3rd most significant contributor to our GDP and will always attract attention in the union budget. However, unlike previous years, we are moving into 2023-24 with a cautious & uncertain outlook owing to challenges like a looming recession, the Russia-Ukraine war, threats of climate change, falling export numbers, global inflation in crude, edible oil, and wheat prices. A separate budget allocation to improve crop production efficiency and enhancement of the supply chain can improve benefits to the farmers.
Technology interventions, mechanisation, GIS, IoT, AI/ML, Big Data, Blockchain, Drones etc., can act as critical drivers to propel growth, farm efficiency, and improve production efficiency at scale. The government can expand the existing measures like Digital Agriculture Mission (2021-2025) to include these technological interventions that help deliver market & mandi prices, supply chain visibility, food security etc.
Furthermore, the government should support the creation of an open ag ecosystem that acts as a public data library wherein all parties can share & access information & insights around soil wellness, pests and diseases etc to help fasttrack the change. The government can look to promote &and open opportunities for PPP (Public Private Partnerships) to improve accessibility and truly bring in digitisation at grassroots level. "
Last month, India along with 195 countries agreed upon the ‘Kunming-Montreal Global biodiversity framework’ (GBF), a guide for countries to arrest and reverse biodiversity loss, and set a target to conserve 30 percent of the world’s land and oceans by 2030 — widely referred to as the ‘30×30’ target.
“India can comfortably achieve the target of 30×30 by 2030,” as “almost 27% of the country’s geographical area is already subject to some kind of conservation measure”, said Bhupender Yadav,Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.