Finance Minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday presented Delhi’s annual budget 2022-23, which he termed as a “Rozgar (employment) Budget” that would create “at least 20 lakh new jobs” over the next five years.
The total budget outlay is ₹75,800 crore, which is larger than last year’s budget estimate of ₹69,000 crore by 9.86%.
Employment took the centre stage in the budget. Mr. Sisodia said the government aims to increase the percentage of the working population of Delhi from the current 33% to 45% over the next five years.
He said that the way to recover the economy, hit hard by successive waves of COVID-19, was to increase the consumption capacity of the people.
“You increase the consumption capacity of our citizens, the economy will automatically move forward,” said the Finance minister.
Job creation
In the next five years, the government plans to redevelop several iconic retail markets in the city into attractive tourist destinations, Mr. Sisodia said. To begin with, the government will start with five markets this year.
“For this, a provision of ₹100 crores has been made in the budget of the next financial year. At least 1.5 lakh new job opportunities will be created in the next 5 years from within just 5 markets,” he said.
He said ‘Delhi Shopping Festival’ will be organised every year in which people from India and abroad will be invited to come and shop. The government will give SGST (State GST) refunds to sellers in order to help them offer attractive discounts to consumers.
“This is expected to increase the number of tourists by about four lakh, which will benefit hotels, restaurants, tourism and other businesses in a big way. It is expected that this will increase the business by at least 25 percent,” the minister said.
Shopping festival
On similar lines, the Finance minister also proposed another shopping festival specially meant for wholesale traders. A total of ₹250 crore was allocated for these two festivals.
“The Wholesale Shopping Festival held in Yiwu City of Zhejiang in China has been a game-changer in attracting customers from all over the world to China. And when it comes to Delhi’s goods, then we are sure that the trust in Delhi’s goods will be a hundred times more than in China’s goods,” he said.
The government also plans to create 1 lakh “green jobs” in the next five years through several initiatives it has planned for clean air and water. This includes 20,000 new jobs in the Electric Vehicle sector, 25,000 new jobs in e-autos, and 25,000 new jobs in “smart farming”.
For all the projects in the employment section, Mr. Sisodia said, ₹4,500 crore will be required during the next 5 years. For the first year, the government has allocated ₹800 crore.
No specific timelines
However, many projects that are part of the government’s drive to create 20 lakh jobs over the next five years, were not given specific timelines.
For instance, redevelopment of non-conforming industrial areas, which is expected to create the highest number of jobs as per the budget — 6 lakh — does not have a timeline.
Mr. Sisodia said that due to the successful implementation of the previous seven budgets presented by the AAP government, more than 1.78 lakh youth have been given government jobs.
