193: Budget 2022 | Nirmala Sitharaman on ‘achievable’ FY23 growth target; capex boost, govt’s push to go green and more

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman exclusively interacted with Rahul Joshi, Editor-in-Chief of Network18, on Wednesday about the major announcements in Budget 2022.

In this episode of Budget Podcast, CNBCTV18.com’s Kanishka Sarkar shares Sitharaman’s comments from the interview, in which she said, if things go the way they are going now, the 8 percent GDP growth target for FY23 is achievable.

When asked if the capex boost announced in Budget 2022 will fire up private investments, Sitharaman said she’s hopeful of that.

Meanwhile, in her Budget speech on Tuesday, Sitharaman allocated Rs 86,200.65 crore to the healthcare sector and this is 16 percent higher than the previous budget. However, the spending on 'medical and public health' has been reduced Rs 41,000 crore from Rs 74,800 crore last time due to lower requirement of vaccination, according to Budget documents.

The government has said, income from digital asset transfers will be taxed at a rate of 30 percent, specifying that no deductions and exemptions will be allowed. This move is being called 'crypto tax'. The Finance Minister said, a currency becomes, or, a currency is a currency only when it is issued by the central bank, even if it is crypto. Anything outside of that is not currency, she said.

The Indian Association of Tour Operators, however, was extremely disappointed with the government for “ignoring the plight of the sector,” which bearing the maximum brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the extension of the emergency credit-linked guarantee scheme (ECLGS) and expansion of guarantee cover under it, the tour operator body said that an extension of the loan under ECLGS is of no use for the inbound tour operators as they are not able to pay EMIs of the loan they have already taken. Besides banks are not providing fresh loans to the tour operators until they clear their previous loans, it said.

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