Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Introduces Finance Bill 2022

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Finance Bill 2022 in Parliament on Tuesday following which the Lok Sabha has been adjourned till tomorrow.

The Finance Bill 2022 will give effect to the financial proposals of the central government for the financial year 2022-23.

The Union Budget delivered today in Parliament was the fourth presented by Sitharaman.

In her address today, Ms Sitharaman said that Goods and Services Tax (GST) played a remarkable reform in India's GDP. "GST revenues are buoyant despite the pandemic, gross GST collection for the month of January are over Rs. 1.4 lakh crore. The highest since the inception of GST," she said.

Taking together with provision for the creation of capital assets through grants and aids to states, the minister said, "Effective capital expenditure of central government is estimated at Rs 10.68 lakh crore in 2022-23, which will be around 4.1 per cent of GDP."

The Union Minister also spoke about the introduction of a central bank digital currency that will give boost to digital economy and thereby lead to cheaper currency management system.

Blockchain and other technologies will be used by RBI to issue the same from 2022, the Finance Minister said.

Earlier today, Ms Sitharaman met President Ram Nath Kovind ahead of the Budget presentation. She was accompanied by Ministers of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, Bhagwat Karad and other officials from the Ministry.

In an attempt to go green, the Union Budget for 2022-2023 was presented in a paperless format. Ms Sitharaman read out the Budget at the Parliament through a tab, instead of the traditional bahi khata.

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