The Finance Ministry has clarified that the proposal for differential Central excise for non-blended petrol-diesel does not intend to generate revenue. Also, the Ministry clarified that that green bond is not excluding of overall borrowing.

At a post-Budget press conference, Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj said the blended fuel has been discussed with the Petroleum Ministry. “We have also collected data on what is not being blended and this is something to push the petroleum companies to ensure that they do the blending. Our desire is not to collect the tax because it would be very minimal. The desire is the blending happens and to an extent, it benefits the country,” he said.

This remark was made after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech said: “Blending of fuel is a priority of this Government. To encourage the efforts for blending of fuel, unblended fuel shall attract an additional differential excise duty of Rs 2 per litre from the 1st day of October 2022.”

In response to another question, Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth said green bonds announced in the Budget is part of the overall borrowing target for the next financial year. These would be issued for specific sectors and there are set of investors who would like to put their money in sectors that promote sustainable development, he said. At this point of time, he said, this would be issued in the domestic market.

Finance Secretary and Expenditure Secretary T V Somanathan also emphasised it as part of the total borrowing projected at ₹11.58 lakh crore, which is nearly ₹2 lakh crore higher than the current year’s Budget estimate of ₹9.7 lakh crore.

Digital currency

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said only RBI-issued ‘Digital Rupee’ will be recognised as currency and the government will levy 30 per cent tax on gains made from any other private digital assets from April 1. The Budget also proposed a 1 per cent TDS on payments towards virtual currencies beyond ₹10,000 in a year and taxation of such gifts in the hands of the recipient. The threshold limit for TDS would be ₹50,000 a year for specified persons, which include individuals/HUFs who are required to get their accounts audited under the I-T Act.

The Minister said the name of the Digital Rupee by the RBI will be given later and only that will be recognised as a currency. All other private cryptocurrencies and virtual digital assets would be subject to tax.

Hits out at Congress

Later, Sitharaman on took a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for what she called as making uninformed comment on the budget and said he should first implement what he preaches in states governed by his party.Following the presentation of Budget 2022-23 in Parliament, Gandhi dubbed it as a “zero-sum budget”, saying it has nothing for the salaried, middle class, and the poor.

“That’s not right. I wish as a leader of the oldest party, please understand what has been said. I pity people who come up with quick responses. Quick understanding response I am ready to answer but just because you want to put something on Twitter, it does not help,” she said.

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