July 23, 2024

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her seventh consecutive Budget in Parliament today – Tuesday, July 23. Nirmala Sitharaman announced key employment schemes and also revised the tax structure in the new tax regime, while the slabs in old tax regime remain unchanged.  The Finance Minister announced a major reduction in customs duty on cancer medicines and mobile phones. Imported gold, silver, leather goods and seafood will also get cheaper. The Budget for 2024-25 is the action plan for the Modi 3.0 government to outline a roadmap towards India’s development in the next five years.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the Union Budget presented by Nirmala Sitharaman. He said the Budget 2024 will benefit all sections of society and lay the foundation for a developed India. PART A Global economy remaining under the grip of policy uncertainties, India’s economic growth continues to be the shining exception and will remain so in the years ahead. Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt 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. Interim Budget 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). Budget Theme Dwelling on the Budget theme, Smt Sitharaman said, turning attention to the full year and beyond, in this budget, we particularly focus on employment, skilling, MSMEs, and the middle class. She announced the Prime Minister’s package of 5 schemes and initiatives to facilitate employment, skilling and other opportunities for 4.1 crore youth over a 5-year period with a central outlay of ₹2 lakh crore. This year, ₹1.48 lakh crore has been allocated for education, employment and skilling. Budget Priorities The Finance Minister said, for pursuit of ‘Viksit Bharat’, the budget envisages sustained efforts on the following 9 priorities for generating ample opportunities for all.  Productivity and resilience in Agriculture Employment & Skilling Inclusive Human Resource Development and Social Justice Manufacturing & Services Urban Development   Energy Security Infrastructure Innovation, Research & Development and Next Generation Reforms Priority 1: 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. Smt Sitharaman announced a provision of ₹1.52 lakh crore for agriculture and allied sector this year. Priority 2: 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.      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.  She also announced that the Model Skill Loan Scheme will be revised to facilitate loans up to₹7.5 lakh with a guarantee from a government promoted Fund, which is expected to help 25,000 students every year. 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 ₹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. Priority 3: 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. Purvodaya 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. Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan 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. She said, a provision of ₹2.66 lakh crore for rural development including rural infrastructure was made this year. Priority 4: Manufacturing & Services Support for promotion of MSMEs Smt Sitharaman said, this 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 ₹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