Union budget highlights 2021

 Union Budget 2021 Highlights: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has begun presenting the Union Budget 2021. This is the first paperless budget. The Finance Minister is reading out the Budget from a Made in India tablet.  

The Union Cabinet had earlier given its approval to the Union Cabinet 2021-22. This is the third Budget presentation for FM Nirmala Sitharaman since she took over the mantle of Finance Ministry and the first one to be presented after the COVID-19 pandemic, which had a huge impact on the Indian economy. The Union Government had released a series of stimulus packages last year to help key sectors to get back on their feet. 

Hence, there are a lot of expectations from Union Budget 2021, as almost all sectors were adversely impacted by the pandemic especially travel, real estate, tourism, the hospitality sectors and the small and medium enterprises. 

PM Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana to be launched to strengthen existing health systems and support future health interventions with an outlay of about 64,180 crores over 6 years.

The Union Budget 2021 will become the first-ever to go paperless, no hard copies of the Budget 2021 will be printed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The soft copies of the budget will be provided to all members of the Parliament.

The Union Government has launched a dedicated Union Budget Mobile app for both Android and Apple smartphones. The mobile app will provide all Union Budget documents after FM Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget speech in the Parliament.

The Union Budget 2021-22 will be presented by FM Nirmala Sitharaman at 11 am in the Parliament.  The budget speech can be seen live at national television channels -Lok Sabha TV, Rajya Sabha TV and Doordarshan. 

The Economic Survey 2020-21 has projected that India's real GDP growth to be 11.0% in FY 2021-22 and nominal GDP to be around 15.4%, which is the highest since independence.