16% Hike On Cigarettes, No Tax Till ₹7 Lakhs Income: A Look At The Budget 2023 Highlights

The much-awaited Union Budget for the financial year 2023-24 was presented today by India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha. In the shortest budget speech of her career, Sitharaman made some announcements that could affect the financial dynamics of every person in the country.

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Sitharaman presented her fifth consecutive budget, “the first budget of Amrit Kaal”, which has something for almost all sectors of the economy.

According to the Economic Times:

  • A 16% tax hike has been levied on certain cigarettes.
  • Import duty on silver bars hiked to align it with gold and platinum.
  • To promote TV manufacturing, customs duty on open cells of TV panels reduced to 2.5%.
  • An outlay of Rs 2.4 lakh crore provided for railways in the Financial Year 2024.
  • The defense budget increased to Rs 5.94 lakh crore from last year’s Rs 5.25 lakh crore.
  • The government will launch Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0
  • 30 Skill India International Centres will be set up across different states.
  • Govt to spend Rs 10,000 crore per year for the urban infra development fund.
  • 157 new nursing colleges will be established.

The high point of the year’s budget was the increased income tax rebate limit from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7 lakh.

The FM said that the budget will benefit the middle-class people of the country, which are in huge numbers. After the announcement of the intensive budget, people took to Twitter to share their two cents on the matter with memes.

You can hear the Finance Minister’s full speech here:

We hope the Indian economy moves in the right direction and, as promised, the people of the country will be able to take a sigh of relief.

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