Tax insurance policies have been left unchanged, main subsidies on meals, fertiliser, and gas have been 8% decrease and an allocation for the MGNREGA rural employment scheme was held regular in the 2024 interim finances learn out in Parliament by union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday forward of the Lok Sabha elections due by May.
The interim finances is seen as a cease-hole fiscal plan throughout an election yr, aimed toward assembly rapid monetary wants earlier than a brand new authorities is shaped. The full union finances will solely be launched after the elections.
“I suggest to retain the identical tax charges for direct and oblique taxes, together with import duties,” Sitharaman said.
The minister, however, proposed to withdraw outstanding direct tax demands of up to Rs 25,000 till FY09/10 and up to Rs 10,000 for FY10/11 to 14/15, and said it would benefit around one crore taxpayers.
Sitharaman stated direct collections had greater than trebled in the previous 10 years, and the variety of individuals submitting returns had elevated 2.4 occasions.
“The Indian economy has witnessed profound positive transformation in the last ten years. The people of India are looking ahead to the future with hope and optimism,” the minister stated.
She added that the wants, aspirations and welfare of Garib (Poor), Mahilayen (Women), Yuva (Youth) and Annadata (Farmer) is the PM Modi-led authorities’s “highest precedence”.
Presenting her sixth straight (but first interim) budget, Sitharaman also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is working to make India a ‘Viksit (Developed) Bharat’ by 2047 and that this development would be “all-round, all-inclusive, and all-pervasive”.
“Our imaginative and prescient for Viksit Bharat is that of a affluent Bharat… in concord with nature and trendy infrastructure, and offering alternatives for all to succeed in their potential,” she said. “The next five years will see unprecedented development and golden moments to realise the goal of a developed India.”
Sitharaman stated the federal government plans to type a “excessive-powered committee” for an “extensive consideration of challenges arising from fast population growth and demographic challenges”.
“The committee can be mandated to make suggestions to handle these challenges comprehensively, in relation to the purpose of ‘Viksit Bharat’,” she explained.
Sitharaman said that India’s fiscal deficit is estimated to be 5.1% of the gross domestic product in the financial year 2024-25. The country’s total borrowing during the fiscal is estimated at Rs 14.13 lakh crore. She said that the fiscal deficit in the financial year 2023-24 is expected to be 5.8% – marginally below the previous budget estimate of 5.9%. The union government will continue on the path of fiscal consolidation to reach a fiscal deficit target below 4.5% by the financial year 2025-26, she announced.
Sitharaman said FDI (foreign direct investment) inflow between 2014 and 2023 had marked a “golden era”. The sum of $596 billion was twice that between 2005 and 2014, she stated.
“To encourage sustained overseas funding, the federal government is negotiating bilateral funding treaties with our overseas companions in the spirit of FDI, or ‘First Develop India’,” she said.
The highest allocation in the budget was for the ministry of defence at Rs 6.2 lakh crore, followed by MoRTH at Rs 2.78 lakh crore, and railways at Rs 2.55 lakh crore.
“Our government has provided transparent, accountable, and people-centric, trust-based administration, with citizen-first, minimum-government, and maximum-governance mode,” she stated in her speech.
The minister stated that 40,000 regular rail bogies can be transformed to “the Vande Bharat requirements” to improve passenger safety and comfort. She also announced three major economic railway corridor programmes under PM Gati Shakti: energy, mineral and cement corridors; port connectivity corridors, and high traffic density corridors.
The union government has proposed to raise the capital expenditure for the financial year 2024-’25 by 11.1% to Rs 11.11 lakh crore. This would be 3.4% of the GDP.
The union government allocated Rs 86,000 crore for the job guarantee scheme under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act for FY25, which is the same outlay as given in the revised estimates for the current financial year.
Sitharaman said that a new scheme would be launched to help “deserving sections of the middle class ‘living in rented houses, or slums, or chawls and unauthorised colonies’ to buy or build their own houses”. She additionally stated that two crore extra homes can be taken up below the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Grameen) in the following 5 years.
The finance minister introduced {that a} new fund can be created with a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore that may grant 50-yr curiosity-free loans to advertise innovation. “This will encourage the personal sector to scale up analysis and innovation considerably in dawn domains,” she said. “We need to have programmes that combine the powers of our youth and technology.”
Sitharaman talked about the promise made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on lowering electrical energy payments for the poor, after the pran pratistha ceremony at Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir on January 22. While itemizing out the advantages which can be anticipated from the rooftop solarisation programme, the finance minister stated that the Prime Minister’s “resolve” to bring about the scheme after the historic consecration ceremony is leading to its implementation. She further mentioned that the scheme is not only expected to result in savings for households, but it will also generate opportunities for entrepreneurship and employment. Households can save up to Rs 18,000 per year from the free solar electricity that will be provided along with the surplus to the distribution companies, the finance minister added.
Sitharaman also announced the government will strengthen the electric vehicle ecosystem by supporting the manufacture of EVs and building charging stations, as well as encouraging a greater adoption of electric buses for public transport.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the interim budget, “inclusive” and “revolutionary” adding that it will make the common man’s life easier.
“Income-tax remission scheme will provide relief to 1 crore people from the middle class. In this budget, important decisions have been taken for the farmers,” PM Modi stated.
Congress MP Manish Tewari expressed concern concerning the finances deficit. “It is a ‘vote-on-account’ which has just one goal to maintain the federal government solvent for the primary quarter of the present fiscal yr. What’s worrying is that there’s a finances deficit of Rs 18 lakh crores. This implies that the federal government is borrowing for its expenditure. This quantity is just going to extend subsequent yr,” he said.
Industrialist Anand Mahindra though hailed the interim budget. The Mahindra Group chairman said too much drama is created around the budget every year, which raises expectations of policy announcements to an “unrealistically feverish pitch”. “The Budget is NOT essentially the event for transformational coverage bulletins. Those can, and may, occur all year long,” he wrote on social media site X. “Just as it is for all private households, the Budget is an opportunity to plan our finances prudently and with fiscal rectitude. The more we are focussed on living within our means and investing for a robust but sustainable future, the more confidence we will gain with global investors.”
(With company inputs)
