In her Budget speech today, February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman made a slew of announcements on ease of doing business. The government will bring a National Data Governance policy, which will simplify the KYC process while anonymising individual data, Sitharaman said. The finance minister added that to enhance ease of doing business, more than 39,000 compliances have been reduced and over 3,400 legal provisions decriminalised. Presenting the Union Budget 2023-24, Sitharaman said her government would also create an Urban Infrastructure Development Fund on the lines of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund to be managed by NHB (National Housing Bank).
PAN Card: Common Identifier
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also said that Permanent Account Number (PAN) will be used as a common identifier for all digital systems of specified government agencies.
Sitharaman added that if MSMEs fail to execute contracts, 95 per cent of performance security will be returned to small business as part of ‘Vivad Se Vishwas’ scheme. This scheme provides for settlement of disputed tax, interests, penalty or fees in relation to an assessment or reassessment order on payment of 100 per cent of the disputed tax and 25 per cent of the disputed penalty or interest or fee.
This is Sitharaman’s fifth consecutive budget, this time for the fiscal year beginning on April 1, 2023. There is an additional attention on this budget as it’s the last full budget from the Modi government ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha elections.
