FM Nirmala Sitharaman made history when she presented the last Budget virtually, in the middle of the lockdown.

The Budget this year is equally significant, at a time when India grapples with historic unemployment rates, higher inequality and general restlessness in the waning phase of the pandemic.

Here are the key takeaways:

Given the country’s stressed fiscal scenario, the government has set a target to reduce fiscal deficit to 6.4 per cent of GDP in 2022-23 from the estimated 6.9 per cent in the current financial year

Effective expenditure will be INR 10.68 lakh crore, or 4.1 per cent of GDP.

INR 1 lakh crore is to be allocated to states to help investment activity.

50-year interest-free loanswould be over and above normal borrowings allowed to states and used for PM Gati Shakti-related and other state capital investments.

Taxpayers can now update I-T returns within 2 years from the relevant assessment year.

Income from transfer of digital assets, including cryptocurrency incestments, to be charged 30% tax, plus 1% tax on the transaction.

Surcharge on long-term capital gains capped at 15%.

Spectrum auction will be conducted to roll out 5G mobile services within 2022-23 by private firms.

60 lakh jobs are being earmarked to be created in the next 5 years.

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