Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman speaks during a post-budget press conference, in New Delhi, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023.
| Photo Credit: PTI

The government will focus on economic growth and job creation and cut down the fiscal deficit, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday, presenting its last full budget in Parliament before the 2024 election.

Here are the charts that show major aspects of Union Budget 2023:

Budget at a glance

The Narendra Modi government focused on a slew of measures that expanded Capital Expenditure spending and tied in various priorities including Green Growth, Youth Power, and Inclusive Development.

Fiscal deficit would be brought down to below 4.5% by 2025-26, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. She also said that tax receipts for the next fiscal are budgeted at ₹23.3 lakh crore and States would be allowed 3.5% of GDP as fiscal deficit.

What funds the deficit

The government plans to borrow a record ₹15.4 lakh crore from dated securities in FY24 to meet its expenditure requirement to prop up the economy. This is higher than the total borrowing of ₹14.21 lakh crore for the current financial year ending March 31, 2023.

Rupee come from

Borrowings and other liabilities account for the largest avenue from where the Budget money comes.

Rupee goes to

With 20% of its budget going into interest payments, the State’s share of taxes and duties and the Central sector scheme assume two major areas of spending for the government.

State-wise allocation of central taxes and duties

Here is the state-wise distribution of net proceeds of Union Taxes and Duties for Budget Estimates 2023-24. The distribution was conducted according to the recommendation of the 15th Finance Commission which fixed the share of states at 41% of the net proceeds of sharable Central Taxes and Income Tax.

Transfer to states/UTs

Allocation to Ministries

The Union Budget allocated a massive ₹5.94 lakh crore for the Defence Ministry, a 13% increase year-on-year from last year’s budget estimates.

Outlay for Major Schemes

The Union Budget 2023-24 document listed the new allocations for core welfare schemes that drive socio-economic development.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a number of measures for the agriculture sector, including an increase in the credit target to ₹20 lakh crore, with focus on animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries.

% change for major schemes

Here’s a roundup of how the budgetary allocations for some of the key schemes have changed. While the MGNREGS budget saw a 32% decrease from the revised estimates of 2022-23, the outlay for PM-Kisan remained the same.

Railway Budget in a Glance

With an outlay of ₹2.40 lakh crore for the financial year 2023-24 compared to ₹1.40 lakh crore in the FY22-23, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the outlay for the railways is nine times the amount provided in 2013-2014.

Cheaper vs Dearer

With an eye on promoting exports, boosting domestic manufacturing and enhancing value addition, Union Budget 2023-24 has proposed number of changes to Customs Duty regime that is likely to make mobile phones and televisions cheaper and certain class of automobiles, including EVs, as well as toys and bicycles dearer.

A view of the production of Vande Bharat Coaches at Integral Coach Factory in Chennai. File
| Photo Credit: R. Ragu

With an outlay of ₹2.40 lakh crore for the financial year 2023-24 compared to ₹1.40 lakh crore in the FY22-23, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the outlay for the railways is nine times the amount provided in 2013-2014.

The Ministry of Railways was able to spend ₹1.35 lakh crore in FY2021-22, budget documents note. 

Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Railways said that because of lesser allocation to the railways in the past, the true potential of the sector had not been achieved. “The current outlay will be beneficial for 800 crore passengers who annually travel by railways,” Mr. Vaishnaw said. 

The higher outlay, he said, will be used to ramp up production of Vande Bharat trains, which will now be manufactured from four sites, as opposed to the existing one site in Chennai. “Sonipat in Haryana, Rae Bareilly in U.P., and Latur in Maharashtra will be added as manufacturing sites,” he said.  

Mr. Vaishnaw added, “Eight Vande Bharat trains have now covered an equivalent of travelling 52 times along the perimeter of the earth. So we now know that the product is well tested and stabilised. It is now time to ramp up supply chain and production. Currently we manufacture one Vande Bharat train in seven days. We want to ramp this up to two to three trains every week.”

Mr. Vaishnaw pointed out that operating ratio has stabilised at 98.22% against 107.39% in 2021-22. Operating ratio is the amount of money the railways has to spend to earn ₹100. A lower operating ratio implies better financial health. “We hope to reduce this number further as the entire electrification process is complete — 85% of the railway network has been electrified,” he said. 

He also said that a train run fully on hydrogen will be ready by December 2023, and will be first run on the Kalka-Shimla heritage circuit. The Ministry of Railways is developing economic and social corridors through the railway network: “These corridors will target hilly areas, port areas, tribal areas through the Janjatiya Gaurav corridor,” he said. 

On the work for the bullet trains, the first of which will run between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, pegged to be commissioned not before 2026, Mr. Vaishnaw said that the previous Shiv Sena government had made it hard to obtain clearances for the project in Maharashtra. “Now the government has changed and clearances are easier to come by,” he added. 

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