Budget 2023: Here are the key numbers to watch for

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be presenting her fifth Budget that may do a tightrope walk between staying fiscally prudent and meeting general public expectations of lower taxes and a wider social security net while at the same time firing the engines of the economySitharaman had in her first Budget in 2019 replaced leather briefcase which had been in used for decades for carrying Budget documents with a traditional bahikhata wrapped in red clothAlso read Ahead of Budget 2023 Sensex jumps 517 points to hit 60000 in early tradeBudget 202324 would be in paperless form as done in the last two years and would be available on the Union Budget Mobile App for hasslefree access by Members of Parliament MPs and the general publicHere are the key numbers to watch for in Budget 202324 which is widely expected to boost spending towards policies that create jobs leave more money in hands of the common man and boost manufacturing while increasing tax revenues Fiscal Deficit The budgeted fiscal deficit which is the difference between the government expenditure and income for the current fiscal ending March 2023 is 64 per cent against 671 per cent in the last fiscal The number for 202324 would be in focus as it is widely expected that the government would open its purse strings in an election year DisinvestmentPrivatisation In current fiscal year the budgeted disinvestment target is likely to be missed like the past four years It is expected the government would set a realistic target for next fiscal Capital Expenditure The governments planned capital expenditure for this fiscal year is budgeted at Rs 75 lakh crore higher than Rs 55 lakh crore in the last fiscal The government has been pushing infrastructure creation and also incentivising states to step up capex Tax Revenue The Budget had pegged direct and indirect tax mopup at Rs 1420 lakh crore and Rs 1330 lakh crore for current fiscal taking the total figure to Rs 2750 lakh crore The governments tax revenues are expected to overshoot the budget estimates by about Rs 4 lakh crore on buoyant income tax and customs duty Borrowing The governments gross borrowing budget was at Rs 1431 lakh crore in current financial year ending March 31 The government borrows from the market to fund its fiscal deficit and with tax revenues seeing an uptick the government has cut its gross borrowings by Rs 10000 crore to Rs 1421 lakh crore The borrowing number would be watched by the market especially on the back of expected higher capital expenditures to boost growth Nominal GDP Indias nominal GDP growth real GDP plus inflation in the current fiscal is estimated to be 154 per cent The numbers for next fiscal would be lower as the inflation has come down The Budget is expected to give an outline on the nominal GDP growth numbers Real GDP growth in current fiscal is projected at 7 per cent and come down to 665 per cent in the next Spotlight would also be on spending on key schemes like NREGA as well as key sectors like health and educationThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever