Union Budget 2022-23: Will Govt. Take Measures to Boost Farmers' Income?

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to announce incentives for the agriculture sectors in the upcoming Union Budget 2022-23. The measures, focused at overall agriculture sector growth, may help raise farmers' income. 

According to a government official, the central government's objective is to give assistance for investments in order to enhance value addition and develop backward linkages to the farm. 

Farmers and the broader agrarian community are likely to profit from the next budget on February 1, especially due to the upcoming assembly elections in five states, including Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. 

What’s In Store for Farmers? 

Incentives might include export assistance so that the agrarian community can establish outlets for their products. Marketing, additional transportation and branding incentives may be included in the government's mega budget incentives for the sector. 

There will almost certainly be announcements to bolster the cooperative sector, including the creation of a new specialized ministry for the purpose. 

The government is also expected to announce Rs.10900 crore in incentives as part of the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for food processing. 

If the central government does announce these incentives, farmers' income is expected to increase significantly. The measures would also be consistent with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's objective of doubling farmers' income by 2022. 

Vimal Alawadhi, MD, Best Agrolife Ltd. says, the Indian Agrochemical industry requires an attractive PLI scheme, along with ease of transporting with lesser intermediates within the country. These implementations can prove vital in the coming year for the industry. We also hope the government comes up with reforms to rationalize GST on agrochemicals (reduce GST 18% to 6%) to meet the objective of “Doubling Farmer’s Income''.

We would also like to propose Import duties on finished products to be increased to make local producers more competitive. The need of the hour is to make Indian products globally competitive and offer attractive incentives to export-oriented domestic manufacturers for bringing a boom in the Indian agriculture market. Government must provide financial and technical support to Indian manufacturers for backward integration, especially for import substituted intermediates that will help the industry to become a more tenacious competitor to China.

What the salaried class & taxpayers expect from government: 

The country's salaried class is hoping that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget 2022 announcements on February 1 will provide much-needed relief in the midst of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. As inflation continues to rise, salaried taxpayers anticipate a drop in income tax rates and surcharges in the next Union Budget 2022-23. 

While taxpayers will be happy to have more money in hand, they won’t mind an increase in deduction available under section 80C of the Income Tax Act. Apart from any announcements on an increase in house loan repayment exemption and dividend tax relief, the salaried class will be ecstatic.