Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Interim Budget 2024 in the Lok Sabha on Thursday 1 February. This is the last Budget of the Narendra Modi government before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
"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," FM Sitharaman said while presenting the Interim Budget.
She added that the needs, aspirations and welfare of Garib (Poor), Mahilayen (Women), Yuva (Youth) and Annadata (Farmer) is the PM Modi-led government's "highest priority."
The next full Budget will be presented in July once a new government has been sworn in after the general election.
Key Highlights From the Union Budget 2024-25
No change in income tax slabs.
Sitharaman said that 25 crore people lifted from multi-dimensional poverty in the last 10 years.
Two crore more houses announced under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Gramin ( PMAY-G).
'Golden era' for tech savvy youth: A corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore will be established with interest-free loan for 50 years to encourage the private sector to scale up research and innovation significantly in sunrise domains.
Up to 300 units of free electricity every month for one crore households through rooftop solarisation. "The scheme follows the resolve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the day of Ram Mandir consecration," the FM said.
'Comprehensive' development of tourism sectors: To address the emerging fervour for domestic tourism, projects for port connectivity, tourism infrastructure, and amenities will be taken up on our islands, including Lakshadweep.
'Direct Benefit Transfer' of Rs 34 lakh crore from the government using PM-Jan Dhan accounts led to savings of Rs 2.7 lakh crore for the Union government. PM-SVANidhi provided credit assistance to 78 lakh street vendors. From that total, 2.3 lakh received credit for the third time.
The revised fiscal deficit — the gap between government’s revenue and expenses — is at 5.8 percent of the GDP for 2023-24. The target is to reduce the fiscal deficit to below 4.5 percent of the GDP in 2025-26.
Capex raised to Rs 11.11 lakh crore: The Budget proposed to raise capital expenditure by 11.1% to Rs 11.11 lakh crore — 3.4 percent of the GDP.
A new scheme will be launched for strengthening
deep-tech technologies for defence purposes and expediting ‘atmanirbharta’ (self reliance).
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