On February 1, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman gave an overview of her sixth budget – The Interim Budget 2024. The budget prioritised continuing capital expenditures and fiscal consolidation, with a particular emphasis on youth and women’s empowerment.
Here are the important highlights of the Budget 2024:
– In the last ten years, the government has elevated 25 crore people out of poverty. The Finance Minister also mentioned that 80 crore people received free meals from the government through several programs.
– The Skill India Mission made upskilling and reskilling a priority while uplifting 1.4 crore young people through the training program. In order to empower rural women and strengthen the rural economy, the government would also extend the “Lakhpati Didi” program extending the target from 2 crore to 3 crore.
– A total of 40,000 regular rail bogeys will be upgraded to Vande Bharat specifications. The government plans to enhance passenger safety, and convenience. To promote transit-oriented development, the government will concentrate on metro development as well.
– Multiple programs have been announced by the government to achieve Net Zero by 2070. This entails supplying funds to generate 1 gigawatt of offshore wind energy, buying equipment for biomass aggregation, and growing the e-vehicle industry by promoting additional infrastructure for manufacture and charging.
– All ASHA employees as well as Anganwadi workers and helpers will be included in the Ayushman Bharat programme.
– The government will devise a plan to become independent producers of oilseeds reaching AtmaNirbharta, or self-reliance. This will include crop insurance, value addition, procurement, and research on high-yielding breeds.
– The PM Vishwakarma Yojana program offers artists complete assistance. Under the PM-SVANidhi programme, the government gave credit assistance to 78 lakh street sellers. 30 crore Mudra Yojana loans were given to female business owners.
– Matsya Sampada, a new department, would be established to cater to the demands of fishermen.
– The government proposed keeping import duties and other indirect and direct tax rates the same.
– For 2024–2025, capital expenditure budgets have been raised to ₹11.11 lakh crore. The government intends to stick with its fiscal consolidation plan in order to bring the deficit down to 4.5% by 2025–2026.
– Revolutionary changes are being ushered in by the National Education Policy 2020. Quality education is provided by PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI), which also promotes holistic development.
– “Prosperous Bharat in harmony with nature, with modern infrastructure, and providing opportunities for all citizens and all regions to reach their potential” is the vision for “Viksit Bharat.” The government will provide a thorough plan for pursuing this vision in the July full budget.
– The government is committed to making the eastern region and its people a major engine of India’s economic development. Plans for the same will be communicated accordingly.
– India is very close to reaching its three-crore housing goal. To accommodate the demand brought on by a growth in the number of families, two crore more homes will be built over the course of the next five years.
– The government is going to start a program to assist middle-class citizens who are “living in rented houses, or slums, or chawls and unauthorized colonies” in purchasing or building their own homes.
– The government intends to use the infrastructure of the current hospitals under different departments to establish more medical colleges. A committee will be established for this purpose in order to investigate the problems and offer pertinent suggestions.
– To promote synergy in implementation, several programs for maternity and child care will be combined into a single comprehensive program. The “Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0” initiative will hasten the upgrading of anganwadi centers in order to better support early children development, nutrition, and care.
– A thorough plan of action to assist dairy farmers will be developed. The initiative will build on the achievements of other programs, including the National Livestock Mission, the Rashtriya Gokul Mission, and the Infrastructure Development Funds for animal husbandry and dairy processing.
– A fifty-year interest-free loan will be used to establish a corpus of INR one lakh crore. Extended-term financing or refinancing with extended tenors and low or no interest rates will be made available by the corpus. The private sector will be encouraged to greatly increase research and innovation in sunrise domains as a result.
– The number of airports has doubled to 149. Under the UDAN 19 program, air connectivity has been widely extended to tier-two and tier-three cities. There are 517 new routes with 1.3 crore people being carried.
– This year, a 50-year interest-free loan of INR 75,000 crore is planned to help the State Governments’ milestone-linked initiatives.
– The islands, especially Lakshadweep, will undertake initiatives for port connection, tourism infrastructure, and amenities in response to the growing demand for internal travel. This will also contribute to the creation of jobs.
Here is the budget split for 2024:
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Is there any change in the tax slab in Budget 2024?
A. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not alter the income tax rates or slabs in the Interim Budget 2024.
Q. What is an interim budget?
According to standard parliamentary procedure, the finance minister will deliver the interim budget during the election year and hand over full budgetary authority to the incoming government, which is expected to take office in a few months.
Q. What happens to the interim budget following the election of a new government?
The allocations and recommendations in the interim budget may be carried over by the incoming government, or it may be modified in accordance with its goals and policies. The interim budget functions as a temporary roadmap prior to the presentation of the final budget.
Q. What is the duration of the Interim Budget 2024?
A. The Interim Budget was presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sithamaran on February 1, 2024. A full budget will be presented after a new government has been elected, which is around June-July.
Q. Which ministry received the highest budget?
A. The highest allocated ministry was the Defence Ministry with a budget of ₹6.1 lakh crore. Following up, was the Road Transport and Highways ministry with a budget of ₹2.78 lakh crore.
Q. What is the Budget for India in 2024?
A. The Revised Estimate for the total expenditure is ₹44.90 lakh crore.
