New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman carrying the Budget tablet poses for photos as she arrives at Parliament House to present the Union Budget 2024 in New Delhi on Tuesday July 23, 2024. (Photo: IANS/PIB)
DIMAPUR, JULY 23 (MExN): Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Union Budget 2024-25 in Parliament today said that India’s inflation continues to be low, stable and moving towards the 4 per cent target. Core inflation (non-food, non-fuel) currently is 3.1 per cent and steps are being taken to ensure supplies of perishable goods reach market adequately.
Allocation for NE
• Assistance to Assam for flood management and related projects
• Assistance to Sikkim for devastating flash floods and landslide
• More than 100 branches of India Post Payment Bank will be set up in the North East region to expand the banking services
• DoNER Ministry allocation at Rs 5900 crore
• Pradhan MantriJanjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan: New Scheme for improving the socio-economic condition of tribal communities by adopting saturation coverage for tribal families in tribal-majority villages and aspirational districts. This will cover 63,000 villages benefitting 5 crore tribal people
The Finance Minister said that as mentioned in the interim budget, the focus is on 4 major castes, namely ‘Garib’ (Poor), ‘Mahilayen’ (Women), ‘Yuva’ (Youth) and ‘Annadata’ (Farmer), a PIB report stated.
Dwelling on the budget theme, Sitharaman said, turning attention to the full year and beyond, laid focus on employment, skilling, MSMEs, and the middle class. The Finance Minister said, for pursuit of ‘Viksit Bharat’ (Developed India), the budget envisages sustained efforts on the following 9 priorities for generating ample opportunities for all.
Productivity and Resilience in Agriculture
The Finance Minister announced that the government will undertake a comprehensive review of the agriculture research setup to bring the focus on raising productivity. New 109 high-yielding and climate-resilient varieties of 32 field and horticulture crops will be released for cultivation by farmers.
In the next two years, 1 crore farmers across the country will be initiated into natural farming supported by certification and branding. 10,000 need-based bio-input resource centres will be established. For achieving self-sufficiency in pulses and oilseeds, government will strengthen their production, storage and marketing and to achieve ‘atmanirbharta’ for oil seeds such as mustard, groundnut, sesame, soybean, and sunflower.
Government, in partnership with the states, will facilitate the implementation of the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in agriculture for coverage of farmers and their lands in 3 years. Sitharaman announced a provision of Rs1.52 lakh crore for agriculture and allied sector this year.
Employment & Skilling
The Finance Minister said that the government will implement 3 schemes for ‘Employment Linked Incentive,’ as part of the Prime Minister’s package. These will be based on enrolment in the EPFO, and focus on recognition of first-time employees, and support to employees and employers.
Government will also facilitate higher participation of women in the workforce through setting up of working women hostels in collaboration with industry, and establishing creches.
Referring to the skilling programme, the Finance Minister announced a new centrally sponsored scheme, as the 4th scheme under the Prime Minister’s package, for skilling in collaboration with state governments and Industry. 20 lakh youth will be skilled over a 5-year period and 1,000 Industrial Training Institutes will be upgraded in hub and spoke arrangements with outcome orientation.
For helping the youth, who have not been eligible for any benefit under government schemes and policies, she announced a financial support for loans upto Rs 10 lakh for higher education in domestic institutions. E-vouchers for this purpose will be given directly to 1 lakh students every year for annual interest subvention of 3 per cent of the loan amount.
Inclusive Human Resource Development and Social Justice
Talking about the saturation approach, the Finance Minister emphasised that implementation of schemes meant for supporting economic activities by craftsmen, artisans, self-help groups, scheduled caste, schedule tribe and women entrepreneurs, and street vendors, such as PM Vishwakarma, PM SVANidhi, National Livelihood Missions, and Stand-Up India will be stepped up.
Government will formulate a plan, Purvodaya, for the all-round development of the eastern region of the country covering Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. This will cover human resource development, infrastructure, and generation of economic opportunities to make the region an engine to attain Viksit Bharat, the PIB report said.
The Finance Minister announced that for improving the socio-economic condition of tribal communities, government will launch the Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan by adopting saturation coverage for tribal families in tribal-majority villages and aspirational districts covering 63,000 villages and benefitting 5 crore tribal people.
More than 100 branches of India Post Payment Bank will be set up in the North East region to expand the banking services.
Manufacturing & Services
Sitharaman said, the budget provides special attention to MSMEs and manufacturing, particularly labour-intensive manufacturing. A separately constituted self-financing guarantee fund will provide, to each applicant, guarantee cover up to Rs 100 crore, while the loan amount may be larger. Similarly, public sector banks will build their in-house capability to assess MSMEs for credit, instead of relying on external assessment. She also announced a new mechanism for facilitating continuation of bank credit to MSMEs during their stress period.
The Finance Minister said that as the 5th scheme under the Prime Minister’s package, government will launch a comprehensive scheme for providing internship opportunities in 500 top companies to 1 crore youth in 5 years.
Urban Development
Under the PM AwasYojana Urban 2.0, housing needs of 1 crore urban poor and middle-class families will be addressed with an investment of Rs 10 lakh crore. This will include the central assistance of Rs 2.2 lakh crore in the next 5 years. In partnership with the State Governments and Multilateral Development Banks, government will promote water supply, sewage treatment and solid waste management projects and services for 100 large cities through bankable projects.
Budget Estimates 2024-25
The Finance Minister informed that for the year 2024-25, the total receipts other than borrowings and the total expenditure are estimated at Rs 32.07 lakh crore and Rs 48.21 lakh crore respectively. The net tax receipts are estimated at Rs 25.83 lakh crore and the fiscal deficit is estimated at 4.9 per cent of GDP.
She said, the gross and net market borrowings through dated securities during 2024-25 are estimated at Rs 14.01 lakh crore and Rs11.63 lakh crore respectively. Sitharaman emphasised that the fiscal consolidation path announced by her in 2021 has served economy very well, and the government will aim to reach a deficit below 4.5 per cent next year.
