Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Finance Minister | Photo credit: Kamal Narang

The government will set up another dispute settlement system under Vivad Se Vishwas-2 to settle trade disputes, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on February 1.

Presenting the 2023-24 budget, she also indicated that a unique solution for reconciling and updating the identity of individuals would be put in place.

Read also | All You Need to Know About Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Bill, 2020

The Vivad Se Vishwas scheme provides for the settlement of disputed tax, disputed interest, disputed penalty or disputed costs in relation to an assessment or relief order upon payment of 100% of the disputed tax and 25% of the penalty or disputed interest or charges.

Ms. Sitharaman further said that up to 100 labs will be set up to develop applications for 5G services in engineering institutions.

It is pertinent to mention that with telecom operators in the midst of 5G rollouts, the Indian market is poised for vastly improved speeds and lag-free videos, where applications would range from connected ambulances to cloud gaming.

Read also | What happened with 5G in India in 2022

The fifth generation or 5G network would allow full high quality videos or movies to be downloaded to mobile and other devices in seconds (even in crowded areas or during mega events).

Blazing fast speeds (about 10 times faster than 4G), low latency connectivity, enabling billions of connected devices to share data in real time, promise to unleash more immersive entertainment, 3D hologram calls , metaverse experiences and redefining educational apps, even the way people play or watch sports.

In her budget speech, Ms Sitharaman also said the government would provide an R&D grant to one of the IITs to encourage domestic production of lab-grown diamonds in a bid to reduce imports.

She added that the addition of customs duties on lab-grown diamonds would be reduced.