 laid in the previous budget and the blueprint drawn for India at 100. We envision a prosperous and inclusive India in which the fruits of development will reach all sections and citizens, especially our youth, women, farmers, OBCs, schedule cast and schedule tribes. In the 75th year of our independence, the world has recognized the Indian economy as a bright star. Our current year's economic growth is estimated to be at 7%. It is notable that this is the highest among all the major economies. This is in spite of the massive slowdown globally, caused by COVID-19 and the war. The Indian economy is therefore on the right track and despite a time of challenges heading towards a bright future. Today, as Indians stand with their head held high and the world appreciates India's achievements and successes, we are sure that elders who had fought for India's independence will with joy, bless us in our endeavours going forward as well. Our focus on wide-ranging reforms and sound policies implemented through Sakka Prayas, resulting in Jain Baghidari and targeted support to those in need helped us perform well in trying times. India's rising global profile is because of the several accomplishments. Unique world-class digital public infrastructure, example, ADAR, COVID and UPI. COVID vaccination drive in unparalleled scale and speed, proactive role in frontier areas such as achieving the climate-related goals, mission life and national hydrogen mission. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we ensured that no one goes to bed hungry with a scheme to supply free food grains to over 80 crore persons for 28 months. Continuing our commitment to ensure food and nutritional security, we are implementing from 1st January 2023 a scheme to supply free food grain to all antyodia and priority households for the next one year. Under PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, the entire expenditure, the entire expenditure of about 2 lakh crore will be borne by the central government. In these times of global challenges, the G20 presidency gives us a unique opportunity to strengthen India's role in the world economic order. With the theme of Vasudeva Kutumbaka, we are steering an ambitious people-centric agenda to address global challenges and to facilitate sustainable economic development. The government's efforts since 2014 have ensured for all citizens a better quality of life and life of dignity. The per capita income has more than doubled to 1.97 lakh rupees. In these nine years, the Indian economy has increased in size from being 10th to 5th largest in the world. We have significantly improved our position as well as a well-governed and innovative country with a conducive environment for business as reflected in several global indices. We have made a significant progress in many sustainable development goals. The economy has become a lot more formalized as reflected in the EPFO membership, more than doubling to 27 crore and rupees 7,400 crore digital payments of 126 lakh crore rupees through UPI in 2022. The efficient implementation of many schemes with universalization of targeted benefits has resulted in inclusive development. Some of the schemes are 11.7 crore household toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission, which has achieved 9.6 crore LPG connections under Ujjvila, 220 crore COVID vaccination of 102 crore people persons, 47.8 crore PM Jandan Bank accounts, insurance cover for 44.6 crore persons under PM Suraksha Bhima and PM Jeevan Jyoti Yojana, and cash transfer of 2.2 lakh crores of rupees to 11.4 crore to over 11.4 crore farmers under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. Our vision for the Amritkala includes technology-driven and knowledge-based economy with strong public finances and a robust financial sector. To achieve this, Jan Bhagidari through Sapka Saad Sapka Prayas is essential. The economic agenda for achieving this vision focuses on three things. First, facilitating ample opportunities for citizens, especially the youth, to fulfill their aspirations. Second, providing strong impetus to growth and job creation. And third, strengthening macroeconomic stability. To service these focus areas in our journey to India at 100, we believe that the following four opportunities can be transformative during Amritkala. Economic empowerment of women. Dindayal Antyodhya Yojana National Rural Liability Mission has achieved remarkable success by mobilizing rural women into 81 lakh self-help groups. We will enable these groups to reach the next stage of economic empowerment through formation of large producer enterprises or collectives with each having several thousand members and managed professionally. They will be helped with raw materials supply and for better design, quality, branding and marketing of their products. Through supporting these policies, they will be enabled to scale up their operations to serve the large consumer markets, as has been the case with the several startups growing into unicorns. PM Vishwakarma Kaushal Saman, PM Vikas, for centuries, traditional artisans and crafts people who work with their hands using tools have brought renown for India. They are generally referred to as Vishwakarma. The art and the handicraft created by them represents the true spirit of Atmanarbar Bharat. For the first time, a package of assistance for them has been conceptualized. The new scheme will enable them to improve the quality, scale and reach of their products, integrating them with the MSME value chain. The components of the scheme will include not only financial support, but also access to advanced skill training, knowledge of modern digital techniques and efficient green technologies, brand promotion, linkage with local and global markets, digital payments and social security. This will greatly benefit the schedule cast, schedule tribes, OBCs, women and people belonging to the weaker sections. Tourism, the country offers immense attraction for domestic as well as foreign tourists. There is a large potential to be tapped in tourism. The sector holds huge opportunities for jobs and entrepreneurship for youth in particular. Promotion of tourism will be taken up on mission mode with active participation of states, convergence of government programs and public-private partnerships. Green growth. We are implementing many programs for green fuel, green energy, green farming, green mobility, green buildings and green equipment and policies for efficient use of energy across various economic sectors. These green growth efforts help in reducing carbon intensity of the economy and provides for large-scale green job opportunities. Priorities of this budget. The budget adopts the following seven priorities. They complement each other and act as the Saptarishi, guiding us through the Amritkala. Inclusive development, reaching the last mile, infrastructure and investment, unleashing the potential, green growth, youth power and financial sector. I now speak on the priority number one, inclusive development. The government's philosophy of Sapkasath, Sapkavikas has facilitated inclusive development covering in specific farmers, women, youth, OBCs, schedule cast, schedule tribes, the Vyangan and economically weaker sections and overall priority for the underprivileged, Vanchitonko Varyata. There has also been a sustained focus on Jammu Kashmir, Ladakh and the Northeast. This budget builds on those efforts. Digital public infrastructure for agriculture. Digital public infrastructure for agriculture will be built as an open source, open standard and interoperable public good. This will enable inclusive farmer centric solutions through relevant information services for crop planning and health, improved access to farm inputs, credit and insurance, help for crop estimation, market intelligence and support for growth of agri-tech industry and start-ups. An agriculture accelerator fund will be set up to encourage agri-start-ups by young entrepreneurs in rural areas. The fund will aim at bringing innovative and affordable solutions for challenges faced by farmers. It will also bring in modern technologies to transform agricultural practices, increase productivity and profitability. To enhance the productivity of extra-long staple cotton, we will adopt a cluster-based and value-chain approach through public-private partnerships. This will mean collaboration between farmers, state and industry for input supplies, extension services and market linkages. We will launch an Atma Nirbar Clean Plant Program to boost availability of disease-free quality planting material for high-value horticultural crops at an outlay of 2200 crores. Global hub for millets, millets which are Sri Anna. India is at the forefront of popularizing millets whose consumption furthers nutrition, food security and welfare of farmers, said the Honourable Prime Minister. We are the largest producer and second-largest exporter of Sri Anna in the world. It grows several types of Sri Anna, such as Sri Anna Jovar, Sri Anna Ragi, Sri Anna Bajra, Sri Anna Kutu, Ramdana, Kangani, Kutni, Kutki, Kodo, Chena and Sama. These have a number of health benefits and have been an integral part of our food for centuries. I acknowledge with pride the huge service done by small farmers in contributing to the health of fellow citizens by growing these Sri Anna. Now to make India a global hub for Sri Anna, the Indian Institute of Millet Research, ideally Indian Institute of the Sri Anna Research. Hyderabad will be supported as the centre of excellence for sharing best practices, research and technologies at the international level. The agricultural credit target will be increased to 20 lakh crores with focus on animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries. We will launch a new sub-scheme of PM Matsya Sampadai Yojana, which is an existing scheme, but we will launch a new sub-scheme with targeted investment of 6000 crores to further enable activities of fishermen, fish vendors and micro and small entrepreneurs, improve value chain efficiencies and expand the market. For farmers, especially small and marginal farmers and other marginalised sections, the government is promoting cooperative based economic development model. A new Ministry of Cooperation was formed with a mandate to realise the vision of Sahekarse Samradhi. To realise this vision, the government has already initiated computerisation of 63,000 primary agricultural credit societies with an investment of 2,560 crores, 2,516 crores. In consultation with all the stakeholders and the states, model bylaws for PACS were formulated enabling them to become multi-purpose PACS. A national cooperative database is being prepared for country-wide mapping of cooperative societies. With this backdrop, we will implement a plan to set up massive, decentralized storage capacity. This will help farmers store their produce and realise remunerative prices through sale at appropriate times. The government will also facilitate setting up of a large number of multi-purpose cooperative societies, primary fishery societies and dairy cooperative societies in uncovered panchayat and villages in the next five years. Health, education and skilling, 157 new nursing colleges will be established in co-location with the existing 157 medical colleges established since 2014. A mission to eliminate sickle cell anemia by 2047 will be launched. It will entail awareness creation, universal screening of 7 crore people in the age group of 0 to 40 years in affected tribal areas and counselling through collaborative efforts of central ministries and state governments. Facilities in select ICMR labs, Indian Council for Medical Research labs, will be made available for research by public and private medical college faculty and private sector R&D teams for encouraging collaborative research and innovation. A new pharma programme to promote research and innovation in pharmaceuticals will be taken up through centres of excellence. We shall also encourage industry to invest in research and development in specific priority areas. Dedicated multidisciplinary courses for medical devices will be supported in existing institutions to ensure availability of skilled manpower for futuristic medical technologies, high end manufacturing and research. Teachers' training will be re-envisioned through innovative pedagogy, curriculum transaction, continuous professional development, dipstick surveys and ICT implementation. The District Institute of Education and Training will be developed as vibrant institutes of excellence for this purpose. National Digital Library for Children and Adolescents. A National Digital Library for Children and Adolescents will be set up for facilitating availability of quality books across geographies, languages, genres and levels and device agnostic accessibility. States will be encouraged to set up physical libraries for them at panchayat and ward levels and provide infrastructure for accessing the National Digital Library resources. Additionally, to build a culture of reading and to make up for pandemic time learning laws, the National Book Trust, the Children's Book Trust and other sources will be encouraged to provide and replenish non-curricular titles in regional languages and in English to these physical libraries. Collaboration with NGOs that work in literacy will also be a part of this initiative to inculcate financial literacy, financial sector regulators and organizations will be encouraged to provide age-appropriate reading material to these libraries. I move to priority two, reaching the last mile. Prime Minister Vajpayee's government had formed the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the Department of Development of Northeast Region to provide a sharper focus to the objective of reaching the last mile. Our government has formed the Ministries of Ayush, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dering, Skill Development, Jalshakti and Cooperation. Building on the success of the aspirational districts program, the government has recently launched the aspirational blocks program covering 500 blocks for saturation of essential government services across multiple domains such as health, nutrition, education, agriculture, water resources, financial inclusion, skill development and basic infrastructure. Vanya Speaker sir, Pradhan Mantri PBTG which is primitive vulnerable tribal groups development mission is being launched. To improve socio-economic conditions of the particularly vulnerable tribal groups, the PBTGs as we refer them to, Pradhan Mantri PBTG development mission will be launched. This will saturate PBTG families and habitations with basic facilities such as safe housing, clean drinking water and sanitation, improved access to education, health, nutrition, road and telecom connectivity and sustainable livelihood opportunities. An amount of 15,000 crores will be made available to implement the mission in the next three years under the Development Action Plan for the Schedule Tribes. Akalovia Model Residential Schools. In the next three years, Centre will recruit 38,800 teachers and support staff for the 740 Akalovia Model Residential Schools which is serving 3.5 lakh tribal students. In the drought-prone central regions of Karnataka, central assistance of 5,300 crore will be given to Appabhadra Project. Sustainable micro-irrigation and filling up of survey tanks for drinking water. PM Avaz Yojana. The outlay for PM Avaz Yojana is being enhanced by 66% to over 79,000 crores. Bharat's shared repository of inscriptions will be set up in a digital epigraphy museum with digitization of 1 lakh ancient inscriptions in the first stage. Support for poor prisoners. For poor persons who are in prisons and unable to afford the penalty or the bail amount, required financial support will be provided. Priority number three, infrastructure and investment. Investments in infrastructure and productive capacity have a large multiplier impact on growth and employment. After the subdued period of the pandemic, private investments are growing again. The budget takes the lead once again to ramp up the virtuous cycle of investment and job creation. Honourable Speaker Sir, the capital investment outlay is being increased steeply for the third year in a row by 33% to 10 lakh crores, which would be 3.3% of GDP. This will almost be three times the outlay made in 2019-20. Creation, crowd in private investments and provide a cushion against global headwinds. The direct capital investment by the centre is complemented by the provision made for creation of capital assets through grants and aids to state. The effective capital expenditure of the centre is budgeted at 13.7 lakh crore rupees, which will be 4.5% of GDP. Support to state governments for capital investment. I have decided to continue the 50-year interest-free loan to state governments for one more year to spur investment in infrastructure and to incentivise them for complementary policies actions with a significantly enhanced outlay of 1.3 lakh crores. The newly established infrastructure finance secretariat will assist all stakeholders for more private investment in infrastructure, including railways, roads, urban infrastructure and power, which are predominantly dependent on public resources. The harmonised master list of infrastructure will be reviewed by an expert committee for recommending the classification and financing framework suitable for Amarthkal. Capital outlay, I am talking about railways now, a capital outlay of 2.40 lakh crores has been provided for the railways. This highest ever outlay is about 9 times the outlay made in 2013-14. 100 critical transport infrastructure projects for last and first mile connectivity for ports, coal, steel, fertiliser and food grain sectors have been identified. They will be taken up on priority with investment of 75,000 crores, including 15,000 crores from private sources. 50 additional airports, heliports, water aerodromes and advanced landing grounds will be revived for improving regional air connectivity. Sustainable cities for tomorrow and cities will be encouraged to undertake urban planning. Urban planning reforms and actions to transform our cities into sustainable cities of tomorrow. This means efficient use of land resources, adequate resources for urban infrastructure, transit oriented development, enhanced availability and affordability of urban land and opportunities for all. Through property tax governance reforms and ring fencing user charges on urban infrastructure, cities will be incentivised to improve their credit worthiness for municipal bonds. For like the RIDF, an urban infrastructure development fund will be established through use of priority sector lending shortfall. This will be managed by the National Housing Bank and will be used by public agencies to create urban infrastructure in tier 2 and tier 3 cities. States will be encouraged to leverage resources from the grants of the 15th Finance Commission as well as existing schemes to adopt appropriate user charges while accessing the UIDF. We expect to make an available 10,000 crore rupees per annum for this purpose. Sustainable cities and towns will be enabled for 100% mechanical desludging of septic tanks and sewers to transition from manhole to machine hole mode. Enhanced focus will be provided for scientific management of dry and wet waste. Our Prime Minister had said, good governance is the key to a nation's progress. Our government is committed to providing a transparent and accountable administration which works for the betterment and welfare of common citizens. Under Mission Karma Yogi, Centre, States and the Union Territories are making and implementing capacity building plans for civil servants. The government has also launched an integrated online training platform I Got Karma Yogi to provide continuous learning opportunities for lakhs of government employees to upgrade their skills and facilitate people centric approach. Sir, for enhancing ease of doing business, more than 39,000 compliances have been reduced and more than 3,400 legal provisions have been decriminalized. For furthering the trust based governance, we have introduced the Jan Vishwas Bill to amend 42 Central Acts. This budget proposes a series of measures to unleash the potential of our economy. Centres of excellence for artificial intelligence. For realizing the vision of make AI in India and make AI work for India, 3 centres of excellence for artificial intelligence will be set up in top educational institutions. Leading industry players will partner in conducting interdisciplinary research, develop cutting edge applications and scalable problem solutions in the areas of agriculture, health and sustainable cities. This will galvanize an effective AI ecosystem and nurture quality human resources in the field. National data governance policy. To unleash innovation and research by startups and academia, a national governance data governance policy will be brought out. This will enable access to anonymized data. The KYC process will be simplified, adopting a risk based instance instead of one size fits all approach. The financial sector regulators will also be encouraged to have a KYC system fully amenable to meet the needs of digital India. One stop solution for identity and address updating. A one stop solution for reconciliation and updating of identity and address of individuals maintained by various government agencies, regulators and regulated entities will be established using Digilocker service and other as foundational identity. Speaker sir, common business identifier. For the business establishments required to have a permanent account number, the pan will be used as the common identifier for all digital systems of specified government agencies. This will bring ease of doing business and it will be facilitated through a legal mandate. For obviating the need for separate submission of same information to different government agencies, a system of unified filing process will be set up. Such filing of information or return in simplified forms on a common portal will be shared with other agencies as per the filers choice. Vivaatse Vishwas one, relief for MSMEs. In cases of failure by MSMEs to execute contracts during the COVID period, 95% of the forfeited amount relating to the bid or performance security will be returned to them by government and government undertakings. This will provide relief to the MSMEs. Vivaatse Vishwas two, settling contractual disputes. To settle contractual disputes of government and government undertakings, where an arbitral award is under the challenge in a court, a voluntary settlement scheme with standardized terms will be introduced. This will be done by offering graded settlement terms depending on pendency level of the dispute. The state support mission of Niti Aayog will be continued for three years for our collective efforts towards national priorities. Result-based financing. To better allocate scarce resources for competing development needs, the financing of select schemes will be changed on a pilot basis from input-based to result-based. E-codes for efficient administration of justice. Phase three of the E-codes project will be launched with an outlay of 7,000 crores. Fintech services in India have been facilitated by our digital public infrastructure including Aadhar, PM Jandan Yojana, Video KYC, India Stack and UPI. To enable more fintech innovative services, the scope of documents available in Digilocker for individuals will be expanded. An entity Digilocker will be set up for the use by MSMEs, large businesses and also charitable trusts. This will be towards storing and sharing documents online securely whenever needed with various authorities, regulators, banks and other business entities. 5G services. 100 labs for developing applications using 5G services will be set up in engineering institutions to realize a new range of opportunities, business models and employment potential. The labs will cover among others applications such as smart classrooms, precision farming, intelligent transport systems and healthcare applications. Lab grown diamonds. Lab grown diamonds is a technology and innovation driven emerging sector with high employment potential. These environment friendly diamonds which have optically and chemically the same properties as natural diamonds. To encourage indigenous production of LGD, lab grown diamond seeds and machines and to reduce import dependency, a research and development grant will be provided to one of the IITs for five years. To reduce the cost of production, a proposal to review the custom duty on LGD seeds will be indicated in Part B of the speech. I come to the fifth priority honourable speaker, green growth. Honourable Prime Minister has given a vision for life or lifestyle for environment to spur a movement of environmentally conscious lifestyle. India is moving forward firmly for the Panchamrith, the net zero carbon emission by 2070 to usher in green industrial and economic transition. This budget builds on our focus on green growth. The recently launched national green hydrogen mission with an outlay of 19,700 crores will facilitate transition of the economy to low carbon intensity, reduce independence on fossil fuel imports and make the country assume technology and market leadership in this sunrise sector. Our target is to reach an annual production of 5 mmT by 2030. Energy transition, this budget provides for 35,000 crores for priority capital investment towards energy transition and net zero objectives and energy security by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. To steer the economy on sustainable development path, battery energy storage systems with capacity of 4,000 MWH will be supported with viability gap funding. A detailed framework for pumped storage projects will also be formulated. Renewable energy evacuation. The interstate transmission system for evacuation and grid integration of 13 gigawatt renewable energy from Ladakh will be constructed with investment of 20,700 crores including central support of 8,300 crores. Green Credit Program. For encouraging behavioural change, a green credit program will be notified under the Environment Protection Act. This will incentivise environmentally sustainable and responsive actions by companies, individuals and local bodies and help mobilise additional resources for such activities. A program for restoration, awareness, nourishment and amelioration of Mother Earth, PM Pranam, will be launched to incentivise states and union territories to promote alternative fertilisers and balanced use of chemical fertilisers. Go-Bardhan scheme. 500 new waste to wealth plants under Go-Bardhan. Galvanising organic bio agro resources done. Go-Bardhan scheme will be established for promoting circular economy. These will include 200 compressed biogas plants including 75 plants in urban areas and 300 community or cluster based plants at a total investment of 10,000 crores. I will refer to this in part B also. In due course, a 5% CBG mandate will be introduced for all organisations marketing natural and bio gas. For collection of biomass and distribution of biomanual, appropriate fiscal support will also be provided. Bharatiya Prakritik, KT bio input resource centres. Over the next 3 years, we will facilitate 1 crore farmers to adopt natural farming. For this honourable speaker, 10,000 bio input resource centres will be set up creating a national level distributed micro fertiliser and pesticide manufacturing network. Mishti. Building on India's success in afforestation, mangrove initiative for shoreline habitats and tangible incomes. Mishti will be taken up for mangrove plantation along the coastline and on salt panned lands wherever feasible through convergence between Manrega, Kampa, Fund and other sources. Amrit Darohar, wetlands are vital ecosystems which sustain biological diversity. In his latest monkey bath, the Prime Minister said, now I quote, now the total number of Ramsar sites in our country has increased to 75 whereas before 2014 they were only 26, unquote. Local communities have always been at the forefront of conservation efforts. The government will promote their unique conservation values through Amrit Darohar, a scheme that will be implemented over the next 3 years to encourage optimal use of wetlands and enhance biodiversity, carbon stock, ecotourism opportunities and income generation for local communities. Coastal shipping will be promoted as the energy efficient and lower cost mode of transport both of passengers and freight through PPP mode with viability gap funding. Vehicle replacement. Vehicle replacement is an important continuing policy, replacing the old political, sorry, replacing old polluting vehicles. Maybe applicable, right? Old polluting vehicles is an important part of greening our economy. In furtherance of the vehicle scrapping policy mentioned in budget 21-22, I have allocated adequate funds to scrap old vehicles of the central government. States will also be supported in replacing old vehicles and old state ambulances. Honourable speakers, I move to priority 6, youth power. To empower our youth and help the Amrit PD realise their dreams, we have formulated the national education policy which is very wide in its scope but one of the things is also to focus on skilling, adopted economic policies that facilitate job creation at scale and have supported business opportunities. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0 will be launched to skill lakhs of youth within the next three years. On job training, industry partnership and alignment of courses with needs of industry will be emphasised. The scheme will also cover new age courses for industry 4.0 like coding, AI, robotics, mechatronics, 3D printing, drones and other soft skills. To skill youth for international opportunities, 30 skill India international centres will be set up across different states. The digital ecosystem for skilling will be further expanded with the launch of a unified skill India digital platform for enabling demand based formal skilling, linking with employers including MSMEs and facilitating access to entrepreneurship schemes. To provide stipend support to 47 lakh youths in three years, direct benefit transfer under a Pan India National Apprenticeship promotion scheme will be rolled out. Tourism, honourable speaker sir, with an integrated and innovative approach, at least 50 destinations will be selected through challenge mode. In addition to aspects such as physical connectivity, virtual connectivity, tourist guides, high standards for food streets and tourist security, all the relevant aspects would be made available on an app to enhance tourist experience. Every destination would be developed as a complete package. The focus of development of tourism would be on domestic as well as foreign tourists. Sector specific skilling and entrepreneurship development will be doped to achieve the objectives of DECO APNA DESH initiative. This was launched as an appeal by the honourable Prime Minister to the middle class to prefer domestic tourism over international tourism. The integrated development of theme based tourist circuits, the Swadesh Darshan scheme was also launched. Under the vibrant villages program, tourism infrastructure and amenities will be facilitated in border villages. Unity mall. States will be encouraged to set up a unity mall in their state capital or most prominent tourism centre or the financial capital for promotion and sale of their one district, one product and GI products and other handicraft products and for providing space for such products of all other states as well. Sir priority number seven, financial sector. Our reforms in the financial sector and innovative use of technology have led to financial inclusion at scale better and faster service delivery, ease of access to credit and participation in financial markets. This budget proposes to further these measures. Credit guarantee for MSMEs. Last year I proposed revamping of the credit guarantee scheme for the MSMEs. I am happy to announce that the revamped scheme will take effect from 1st April 2023 through infusion of 9000 crores in the corpus. This will enable additional collateral free guaranteed credit of 2 lakh crores of rupees. Further the cost of credit will be reduced by about 1%. A national financial information registry will be set up to serve as the central repository of financial and ancillary information. This will facilitate efficient flow of credit, promote financial inclusion and foster financial stability. A new legislative framework will govern this credit public infrastructure and will be designed in consultation with RBI. To meet the needs of Amritkal and to facilitate optimum regulation in the financial sector, public consultation as necessary and feasible will be brought to the process of regulation making and issuing subsidiary directions. To simplify, to ease and to reduce cost of compliance, financial sector regulators will be requested to carry out a comprehensive review of existing regulations. For this they will consider suggestions from public and regulated entities. Time limits to decide the application under various regulations will also be laid down. Honourable speakers, to enhance business activities in gift IFSC, the following measures will be taken. Delegating powers under the SCZ Act to the IFSCA to avoid dual regulation. Setting up a single window IT system for registration and approval of IFSCA, SCZ authorities, GSTN, RBI, SEBI and IRDAI. Permitting acquisition, permitting acquisition financing by IFSC banking units of foreign banks. Establishing a subsidiary of ExSim Bank for trade refinancing. Amending IFSCA Act for statutory provisions for arbitration, ancillary services and avoiding dual regulation under the SCZ Act and recognising offshore derivative instruments as valid contracts. Honourable speakers are data embassy. For countries looking for digital continuity solutions, we will facilitate setting up of their data embassies in gift IFSC. Improving governance and investor protection in banking sector. To improve bank governance and enhance investor's protection, certain amendments to the Banking Regulation Act, the Banking Companies Act and the Reserve Bank of India Act are being proposed. Capacity building in securities market. Honourable speakers, to build capacity of functionaries and professionals in the securities market, SEBI will be empowered to develop, regulate, maintain and enforce norms and standards for education in the National Institute of Securities Markets and to recognise award of degrees, diplomas and certificates. A central data processing, a central processing centre will be set up for faster response to companies through centralised handling of various forms filed with field offices under the Companies Act. Reclaiming of shares and dividends for investors to reclaim unclaimed shares and unpaid dividends from the Investor Education and Protection Fund authority with ease from the Investor Education and Protection Fund authority with ease and integrated IT portal will be established. Digital payments continue to find wide acceptance. In 2022, they show an increase of 76% in transaction and 91% in value. Fiscal support for this digital public infrastructure will continue in 2023-2024. Azadika Amirth Mahotsap, Mahila Samman Bachat Patra, for commemorating Azadika Amirth Mahotsap, a one-time new small savings scheme, Mahila Samman Savings Patra or saving certificate, Mahila Samman's savings certificate will be made available for a two-year period up to March 2025. This will offer deposit facility up to 2 lakh in the name of a woman or girls for a tenor of two years at fixed interest rate of 7.5% with partial withdrawal option. Senior citizens, the maximum deposit limit for senior citizens saving scheme will be enhanced from 15 lakh to 30 lakhs of rupees. The maximum deposit limit for monthly income account scheme will be enhanced from 4.5 lakh to 9 lakh for single account and from 9 lakh to 15 lakh for joint account. Honourable speakers, fiscal management. 50 years interest-free loan to states. The entire 50-year loan to states has to be spent on capital expenditure within 2023-2024. Most of this will be at the discretion of the states but a part will be conditional on states increasing their actual capital expenditure. Parts of the outlay will also be linked to or are located for the following purposes, scrapping old garment vehicles, urban planning reforms and actions, financing reforms in urban local bodies to make them credit worthy for municipal bonds, housing for police personnel above or as part of the police station, constructing unity malls, children and adolescent libraries and digital infrastructure and state share of capital expenditure of central schemes. Honourable speakers, fiscal deficit of states. States will be allowed a fiscal deficit of 3.5% of the SDP of which 0.5% will be tied to power sector reforms. Revised estimates 2022-2023. The revised estimate, Honourable speakers, of the total receipts other than borrowing is 24.3 lakh crores of which the net tax receipts are 20.9 lakh crores. The revised estimate of the total expenditure is 41.9 lakh crores of rupees of which the capital expenditure is about 7.3 lakh crores. The revised estimate of the fiscal deficit is 6.4% of GDP adhering to the budget estimate. Budget estimates of 2023-2024. Coming to 2023-2024, the total receipts other than borrowings and the total expenditure are estimated at 27.2 lakh crores and 45 lakh crores respectively. The net tax receipts are estimated at 23.3 lakh crores. The fiscal deficit is estimated to be 5.9% of the GDP. In my budget speech for 2021-2022, I had announced that we plan to continue the path of fiscal consolidation reaching a fiscal deficit of below 4.5% by 2025-26 with a fairly steady decline over the period. We have adhered to this path and I reiterate my intention to bring the fiscal deficit below 4.5% of GDP by 2025-26. To finance the fiscal deficit in 2023-2024, the net market borrowings from dated securities are estimated at 11.8 lakh crores. The balance financing is expected to come from small savings and other sources. The gross market borrowings are estimated at 15.43 lakh crores of rupees. Honourable Speaker, I now move to Part B. Indirect taxes. My indirect tax proposals will aim to promote exports, boost domestic manufacturing, enhance domestic value addition, encourage green energy and mobility. A simplified tax structure with fewer tax rates helps in reducing compliance burden and improving tax administration. I propose to reduce the number of basic customs duty rates on goods other than textiles and agriculture from 21 to 13. As a result, there are minor changes in the basic customs duties, processes and surcharges on some items including toys, bicycle, automobiles and NAFTA. Green mobility. To avoid cascading of taxes on blended compressed natural gas, I propose to exempt excise duty on GST paid compressed biogas contained in it. To further provide impetus to green mobility, customs duty exemptions is being extended to import of capital goods and machinery required for manufacture of lithium ion cells for batteries used in electrical vehicles as well. Electronics. As a result of various initiatives of the government, including faced manufacturing program, mobile phone production in India has increased from 5.8 crore units valued at about 15,900 crore in 2014-15 to 31 crore units valued at 2.75 lakh crore in the last financial year. To further deepen domestic value addition in manufacturing of mobile phones, I propose to provide relief to customs duty on import of certain parts and inputs like camera and lens and continue the concessional duty on lithium ion cells for batteries for another year. Similarly, to promote value addition in manufacture of televisions, I propose to reduce the basic customs duty on parts of open cells of TV panels to 2.5%. Electrical. To rectify inversion of duty, to rectify inversion of duty structure and encourage manufacturing of electric kitchen chimneys, the basic custom duty on electric kitchen chimneys is being increased from 7.5% to 15% and that on heat coils for these is proposed to be reduced from 20% to 15%. Chemicals and petrochemicals. De-natured ethyl alcohol is used in chemical industry. I propose to exempt basic customs duty on it. This will also support the ethanol blending program and facilitate an endeavor for energy transition. Basic customs duty is also being reduced on acid grade fluorospar from 5% to 2.5% to make the domestic fluorochemicals industry competitive. Further, the basic customs duty on crude glistening for use in manufacture of epichlorohydrene is proposed to be reduced from 7.5% to 2.5%. In the last financial year, marine products recorded the highest export growth benefitting farmers in the coastal states of the country. To further enhance the export competitiveness of marine products, particularly shrimps, duty is being reduced on key inputs for domestic manufacture of shrimp feed. India is a global leader, as I said in Part A, in cutting and polishing of natural diamonds contributing about 3 fourths of the global turnover by value. With the depletion of deposits of natural diamonds, the industry is moving towards lab grown diamonds and it holds huge promise. To cease this opportunity, I propose to reduce the basic customs duty on seeds used in their manufacture. Custom duties on Dore or Dore and bars of gold and platinum were increased earlier this fiscal. I propose to increase the duties on articles made therefrom to enhance the duty differential. I also propose to increase the import duty on silver doors, bars and articles to align them with that on gold and platinum. To facilitate availability of raw materials for the steel sector, exemptions from basic custom duty on raw materials for manufacture of CRGO steel, ferrous scrap and nickel cathode is being continued. Similarly, the concessional BCD of 2.5% on copper scrap is also being continued to ensure the availability of raw materials for secondary copper producers who are mainly in the MSME sectors. Compounded rubber, the basic custom duty rate on compounded rubber is being increased from 10% to 25% or 30kg whichever is lower at par with that of natural rubber other than latex to curb circumvention of duty. Cigarettes, national calamity contingent duty on specified cigarettes was last revised three years ago. This is proposed to be revised upwards by about 16%. Direct taxes. I now come to my direct tax proposals. Honourable speaker, these proposals aim to maintain continuity and stability of taxation, further simplify and rationalise various provisions to reduce the compliance burden, promote the entrepreneurial spirit and provide tax relief to citizens. It has been constant endeavour of the income tax department to improve taxpayer services by making compliance easy and smooth. Our taxpayers portal received a maximum of 72 lakh returns in a day. Processed more than 6.5 crore returns this year. Average processing period reduced from 93 days in financial year 1314 to 16 days only now and 45% of the returns were processed within 24 hours. We intend to further improve this, roll out the next generation common IT return form for taxpayer convenience and also plan to strengthen the grievance redressal mechanism. MSMEs and professionals. MSMEs are growth engines of our economy. Micro enterprises with turnover up to 2 crore of rupees and certain professionals with turnover of up to 50 lakh rupees can avail the benefit of presumptive taxation. I propose to provide enhanced limits of 3 crore and 75 lakh respectively to the taxpayers whose cash receipts are no more than 5% whose cash receipts are no more than 5%. Moreover, to support MSMEs in timely receipt of payments, I propose to allow deduction for expenditure incurred on payments made to them only when payment is actually made. Cooperation. Cooperation is a value to be cherished in realising our prime minister's goal for Saikar says Amrithi and his resolve to connect the spirit of cooperation with the spirit of Amrith Kaal. In addition to the measures proposed in party, I have a slew of proposals for the cooperation sector. First, new co-operatives that commence manufacturing activities until 2024-31st March shall get the benefit of a lower tax rate of 15% as is presently available to new manufacturing companies. Secondly, I propose to provide an opportunity to sugar co-operatives to claim payments made to sugarcane farmers for the period prior to the assessment year 2016-17 as expenditure. This is expected to provide them a relief of almost 10,000 crores. Thirdly, I am providing a higher limit of 2 lakh per member for cash deposits to loans in cash by primary agricultural co-operative societies and primary cooperative agriculture and rural development banks. I repeat that. Thirdly, I am providing a higher limit of 2 lakh per member for cash deposits to and loans in cash by primary agricultural co-operative societies and primary co-operative agricultural and rural development banks. Similarly, a higher limit of 3 crore for TDS on cash withdrawal is being provided to co-operative societies. Startups entrepreneurship is vital for a country's economic development. We have taken a number of measures for start-ups and they have bone results. India is now the third largest ecosystem for start-ups globally and ranks second in innovation quality among middle-income countries. I propose to extend the date of incorporation for income tax benefits to start-ups from 313-2023 to 313-2024. I further propose to provide the benefit of carry-forward of losses on change of shade holding of start-ups from seven years of incorporation to 10 years. To reduce the pendency of appeals at commissioner level, I propose to deploy about 100 joint commissioners for disposal of small appeals. We shall also be more selective in taking up cases for start-ups from seven years of incorporation of small appeals. We shall also be more selective in taking up cases for scrutiny of returns already received this year. Better targeting of tax concessions. For better targeting of tax concessions and exemptions, I propose to cap deduction from capital gains on investment in residential house under section 54 and section 54f to 10 crores. Another proposal with similar intent is to limit income tax exemption from proceeds of insurance policies with very high value. Rationalization. Honourable speakers, there are a number of proposals relating to rationalization and simplification. Income of authorities, boards and commissions set up by statutes of union or state for the purpose of housing, development of cities, towns and villages. And regulating and developing an activity or matter is proposed to be exempted from income tax. Other major measures in this direction are removing the minimum threshold of 10,000 for TDS and clarifying taxability relating to online gaming. Not treating conversion of gold into electronic gold receipts and vice-versa as capital gains. Reducing the TDS rate from 30% to 20% on taxable portion of EPF withdrawals in non-pan cases and taxation on income for market-linked debentures. Other major proposals in the finance bill relate to the funding, extension of period of tax benefits to funds relocating to IFSC, gift city till 31 3, 2025, decriminalization under section 276a of the income tax act, allowing carry forward of losses on strategic disinvestment including that of IDBI bank and providing EE status to the fund. Personal income tax. Now I come to what everyone is waiting for. Personal income tax. I have five major announcements to make in this regard. These primarily benefit a hard-working middle class. The first one concerns rebate. Currently, those with income tax do not pay any tax, do not pay any income tax in both old and new regimes. I propose to increase the rebate limit to 7 lakhs in the new tax regime. Thus persons in the new tax regime with income up to 7 lakhs will not have to pay any more. The second proposal relates to middle class individuals. I had introduced in the year 2020 the new personal income tax regime with six income slabs starting from 2.5 lakh. I propose to change the tax structure in this regime by reducing the number of slabs to 5 and increasing the tax exemption limit to 3 lakhs. The new tax rates are 0 to 3 lakh nil. 3 to 6 lakhs 5% 6 to 9 lakhs 10% 9 to 12 lakh 15% 12 to 15 lakhs 20% and above 15 lakhs 30%. This will provide major relief to all taxpayers in the new regime. An individual with an income of 9 lakhs will be required to pay only 45,000 rupees. This is only 5% of his or her income. It is a reduction of 25% on what he or she is required to pay now. That is 60,000. In the place of 60,000 it is not only 45,000. Similarly an individual with an income of 15 lakh rupees will be required to pay only 1.5 lakh or 10% of his income or her income. A reduction of 20% from the existing liability of 1 lakh 87,500 rupees. My third proposal is for the salaried class and the pensioners including family pensioners for whom I propose to extend the benefit reduction to the new tax regime. Each salaried person with an income of 15.5 lakh rupees or more will thus stand to benefit by 52,500 rupees. My fourth announcement in personal income tax is regarding the highest tax rate which in our country is 74%. This is among the highest in the world. I propose to reduce the highest surcharge I propose to reduce the highest surcharge rate from 37% to 25% in the new tax regime. This would result in reduction of the maximum rate this would result in the reduction of the maximum tax rate to 39%. Lastly the limit of 3 lakh rupees for tax exemption on leave and cash on retirement of non-government salaried employees was last fixed in the year 2002 when the highest basic pay in the government was only 30,000 rupees per month. In line with the increase in the government salaries I am proposing to increase this limit to 25 lakh rupees. We are also making we are also making the new income tax regime as the default tax regime. However, citizens will continue to have the option to avail the benefit of the old tax regime. Apart from these I am also making some other changes as given in the annexure. As a result of these proposals revenue of about 38,000 crore to 37,000 crore in direct taxes and rupees 1,000 crore in indirect taxes will be foregone while revenue of about 3,000 crore will be additionally mobilized. Thus the total revenue foregone is about 35,000 crores annually. Honourable speaker sir with these words I commend this Augustos.