INTERIM UNION BUDGET 2024-25

With the ‘Mantra’ of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, and Sabka Vishwas’ and the whole of nation approach of “Sabka Prayas”, the Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Interim Union Budget 2024-25 in Parliament, on 01 February, 2024. The key highlights of the Budget are as follows :

Social Justice

Prime Minister to focus on upliftment of four major castes, that is, ‘Garib’ (Poor), ‘Mahilayen’ (Women), ‘Yuva’ (Youth) and ‘Annadata’(Farmer).

‘Garib Kalyan, Desh ka Kalyan’

• Government assisted 25 crore people out of multi-dimensional poverty in last 10 years.
• DBT of Rs. 34 lakh crore using PM-Jan Dhan accounts led to savings of Rs. 2.7 lakh crore for the Government.
• PM-SVANidhi provided credit assistance to 78 lakh street vendors. 2.3 lakh have received credit for the third time.
• PM-JANMAN Yojana to aid the development of particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTG).
• PM-Vishwakarma Yojana provides end-to-end support to artisans and crafts people engaged in 18 trades.

Welfare of ‘Annadata’

PM-KISAN SAMMAN Yojana provided financial assistance to 11.8 crore farmers.
Under PM Fasal BimaYojana, crop insurance is given to 4 crore farmers
Electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) integrated 1361 mandis, providing services to 1.8 crore farmers with trading volume of Rs. 3 lakh crore.

Momentum for Nari Shakti

• 30 crore Mudra Yojana loans given to women entrepreneurs.
• Female enrolment in higher education gone up by 28%.
• In STEM courses, girls and women constitute 43% of enrolment, one of the highest in the world.
• Over 70% houses under PM Awas Yojana given to women from rural areas.

PM Awas Yojana (Grameen)

• Despite COVID challenges, the target of three crore houses under PM Awas Yojana (Grameen) will be achieved soon.
• Two crore more houses to be taken up in the next five years.

Rooftop solarization and muft bijli

• 1 crore households to obtain 300 units free electricity every month through rooftop solarization.
• Each household is expected to save Rs.15000 to Rs.18000 annually.

Ayushman Bharat

• Healthcare cover under Ayushman Bharat scheme to be extended to all ASHA workers, Anganwadi Workers and Helpers.

Agriculture and food processing

• Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana has benefitted 38 lakh farmers and generated 10 lakh employment.
• Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Yojana has assisted 2.4 lakh SHGs and 60000 individuals with credit linkages.
• A corpus of Rs.1 lakh crore to be established with fifty-year interest free loan to provide long-term financing or refinancing with long tenors and low or nil interest rates.

Infrastructure

Capital expenditure outlay for Infrastructure development and employment generation to be increased by 11.1 per cent to Rs.11,11,111 crore, that will be 3.4 per cent of the GDP.

Railways

• 3 major economic railway corridor programmes identified under the PM Gati Shakti to be implemented to improve logistics efficiency and reduce cost
• Energy, mineral and cement corridors
• Port connectivity corridors
• High traffic density corridors
• Forty thousand normal rail bogies to be converted to Vande Bharat standards.

Aviation Sector

• Number of airports in the country doubled to 149.
• Five hundred and seventeen new routes are carrying 1.3 crore passengers.
• Indian carriers have placed orders for over 1000 new aircrafts.

Green Energy

• Coal gasification and liquefaction capacity of 100 MT to be set up by 2030.
• Phased mandatory blending of compressed biogas (CBG) in compressed natural gas (CNG) for transport and piped natural gas (PNG) for domestic purposes to be mandated.

Tourism sector

• States to be encouraged to take up comprehensive development of iconic tourist centres including their branding and marketing at global scale.
• Framework for rating of the tourist centres based on quality of facilities and services to be established.
• Long-term interest free loans to be provided to States for financing such development on matching basis.

Investments

• FDI inflow during 2014-23 of USD 596 billion was twice of the inflow during 2005-14.

Reforms in the States for ‘Viksit Bharat’

• A provision of Rs.75,000 crore rupees as fifty-year interest free loan is proposed to support milestone-linked reforms by the State Governments.

Revised Estimates (RE) 2023-24

• RE of the total receipts other than borrowings is Rs.27.56 lakh crore, of which the tax receipts are Rs.23.24 lakh crore.
• RE of the total expenditure is Rs.44.90 lakh crore.
• Revenue receipts at Rs.30.03 lakh crore are expected to be higher than the Budget Estimate, reflecting strong growth momentum and formalization in the economy.
• RE of the fiscal deficit is 5.8 per cent of GDP for 2023-24.

Budget Estimates 2024-25

• Total receipts other than borrowings and the total expenditure are estimated at Rs.30.80 and Rs.47.66 lakh crore respectively.
• Tax receipts are estimated at Rs.26.02 lakh crore.
• Scheme of fifty-year interest free loan for capital expenditure to states to be continued this year with total outlay of Rs.1.3 lakh crore.
• Fiscal deficit in 2024-25 is estimated to be 5.1 per cent of GDP
• Gross and net market borrowings through dated securities during 2024-25 are estimated at Rs.14.13 and Rs.11.75 lakh crore respectively.

Direct taxes

• FM proposes to retain same tax rates for direct taxes
• Direct tax collection tripled, return filers increased to 2.4 times, in the last 10 years
• Government to improve tax payer services
• Outstanding direct tax demands upto Rs 25000 pertaining to the period upto FY 2009-10 withdrawn
• Outstanding direct tax demands upto Rs 10000 for financial years 2010-11 to 2014-15 withdrawn
• This will benefit one crore tax payers
• Tax benefits to Start-Ups, investments made by Sovereign wealth funds or pension funds extended to 31.03.2025
• Tax exemption on certain income of IFSC units extended by a year to 31.03.2025 from 31.03.2024

Indirect taxes

• FM proposes to retain same tax rates for indirect taxes and import duties
• GST unified the highly fragmented indirect tax regime in India
• Average monthly gross GST collection doubled to Rs 1.66 lakh crore this year

GST tax base has doubled

• State SGST revenue buoyancy (including compensation released to states) increased to 1.22 in post-GST period(2017-18 to 2022-23) from 0.72 in the pre-GST period (2012-13 to 2015-16)
• 94% of industry leaders view transition to GST as largely positive

GST led to supply chain optimization

• GST reduced the compliance burden on trade and industry
• Lower logistics cost and taxes helped reduce prices of goods and services, benefiting the consumers

Tax rationalization efforts over the years

• No tax liability for income upto Rs 7 lakh, up from Rs 2.2 lakh in FY 2013-14
• Presumptive taxation threshold for retail businesses increased to Rs 3 crore from Rs 2 crore
• Presumptive taxation threshold for professionals increased to Rs 75 lakh from Rs 50 lakh
• Corporate income tax decreased to 22% from 30% for existing domestic companies
• Corporate income tax rate at 15% for new manufacturing companies

Achievements in tax-payer services

• Average processing time of tax returns has reduced to 10 days from 93 days in 2013-14
• Faceless Assessment and Appeal introduced for greater efficiency
• Updated income tax returns, new form 26AS and prefilled tax returns for simplified return filing
• Reforms in customs leading to reduced Import release time
• Reduction by 47% to 71 hours at Inland Container Depots
• Reduction by 28% to 44 hours at Air Cargo complexes
• Reduction by 27% to 85 hours at Sea Ports

Economy-then and now

• In 2014 there was a responsibility to mend the economy and put governance systems in order. The need of the hour was to:

Attract investments

• Build support to the much-needed reforms
• Give hope to the people
• The government succeeded with a strong belief of ‘nation-first’
• “It is now appropriate to look at where we were till 2014 and where we are now”: FM
• The Government will lay a White Paper on the table of the house.

Budget carries the guarantee of strengthening the foundation of ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047: PM Modi 

PM’s remarks on Interim Budget 2024

Today’s Budget, though an Interim Budget, is an inclusive and innovative Budget. This Budget carries the confidence of continuity. This Budget will empower all four pillars of ‘Viksit Bharat’ — youth, the poor, women, and farmers. Nirmala ji’s Budget is a Budget for building the future of the country. This Budget carries the guarantee of strengthening the foundation of ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047. I congratulate Nirmala ji and her team wholeheartedly.

This Budget reflects Bharat’s young aspirations. Two important decisions have been taken in the Budget. A fund of Rs. 1 lakh crore has been announced for research and innovation. There has also been an announcement in the Budget to expand the tax exemption for start-ups.

While keeping the fiscal deficit under control in this Budget, a historic high of Rs. 11 lakh 11 thousand 111 crore has been allocated for capital expenditure. In the language of economists, this is somewhat of a sweet spot. This will not only lead to the construction of 21st-century modern infrastructure in Bharat, but also create countless new opportunities for employment for the youth.

We set a big goal, achieve it, and then set an even bigger goal for ourselves. We have built more than 4 crore houses for the poor in villages and cities. Now we have set a goal of building 2 crore more new houses. Our initial goal was to make 2 crore women ‘Lakhpati Didis’. Now, this goal has been increased to making 3 crore ‘Lakhpati Didis’. The Ayushman Bharat scheme has greatly helped the poor. Now, Anganwadi and ASHA workers will also benefit from this scheme.

In this Budget, significant emphasis has been placed on empowering the poor and middle class, creating new income opportunities for them. Under the Rooftop Solar campaign, one crore families will receive free electricity through solar rooftop panels. Not only this, people will also earn an additional income of 15 to 20 thousand rupees annually by selling surplus electricity to the government. This income will be available to every family.

The announcement of the income tax remission scheme today will provide significant relief to nearly one crore middle-class individuals.

Budget is development and progress oriented: JP Nadda

BJP National President ’s statement on Interim Budget 2024

Addressing a press conference on the Interim Budget 2024-25, BJP National President Shri Jagat Prakash Nadda thanked Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi , Union Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman and her entire team.
He said the interim budget is focused on poor’s welfare and is development and progress oriented. This budget has vision for Ram Rajya and it cares about the women and poor. It also has the commitment of a developed India and it talks about achieving the goal of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

The budget also has in it the commitment for poor’s welfare, upliftment of farmers, honour of women folks and happiness of our youth. I on behalf of crores of the BJP workers thank and congratulate our Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Union Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman and her entire team for giving us such a progressive budget which is cares for welfare and upliftment of all sections of our country.

In the past 10 years our Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji has toiled hard to bring over 25 lakh people out of the poverty line , while under him our country has broken all the records of growth and development of our economy. This budget also lays the strong foundation of making a developed India.

We don’t give the slogan of “garibi hatao” but eradicates poverty through our hard work and policy initiatives.

The interim budget has taken into account the aspirations and wishes of all sections of our society including farmers and villagers, women and youth, and our huge middle class, it will take our economy and our growth on the right path and promise us a bright and prosperous future.