There will be no income tax up to ₹7 lakh in the new tax regime, announced Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget 2023 on Wednesday. “The government proposes to increase income tax rebate limit from ₹5 lakh to ₹7 lakh in the new tax regime,” said Sitharaman.
Finance Minister announced Mahila Samman Bachat Patra- a one-time new small savings scheme – for a two-year period up to March 2025. This initiative will avail a deposit facility for a woman up to ₹two lakh for two-year period at a fixed interest rate of 7.5% with partial withdrawal option.
The initiative is launched to commemorate the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. The Finance Minister further enhanced the maximum deposit level of Senior Citizens’ Saving Scheme from ₹15 lakh to ₹30 lakh. She also announced enhancing the maximum deposit limit for Monthly Income Accounts Scheme from ₹4.5 lakh to ₹9 lakh for single accounts, and ₹9 lakh to ₹15 lakh for joint accounts.
PAN, the Permanent Account Number, will be used as a common identifier for all digital systems of specified government agencies, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in her Budget 2023 speech as part of the government move to ensure ease of doing business. This will bring ease of business and will be facilitated through a legal mandate, Sitharaman said. “The KYC process will be simplified adopting a risk-based instant instead of one size fits all approach. The financial sector regulators will be encouraged to have a KYC system fully amenable to meet the needs of digital India,” Sitharaman said.
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 Aadhaar as foundational identity, the minister announced.
For obviating the need for separate submission of same information to different government agencies, a system of a unified filing process will be set up. Such filing of information on a common portal will be shared with other agencies, as per the filer’s choice.
If MSMEs fail to execute contract, 95 pc of performance security will be returned to small business as part of Vivad Se Vishwas, Sitharaman said adding that another dispute resolution scheme is being brought under Vivad se Vishwas-2 to settle commercial disputes.
