Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Interim Budget on 1st February 2024. Overall, the interim budget portrays a calm and controlled outlook focusing on stability & continuation of previous policies. However, there are some key announcements in the interim Budget 2024 that set the tone for the development of the country in FY 25.

Budget & The Common Man:

The interim budget 2024 gave no rude shock to the common man.

• No changes in the income tax slab.
• With the Lakhpati Didi scheme, the govt. It is all set to empower 3 cr rural women through Self Help Groups.

The Lakhpati Didi scheme isn’t just about increasing the net worth of rural women. The main idea of this scheme is to empower women in villages and towns to be independent. The scheme has already been in place. In this budget, the number of women to be covered under the scheme has been increased to 3 crore from the previous 2 crore. This will not only benefit the rural women but will also promote MSMEs in villages and towns.

Withdrawal of Historical Tax Demands

All pending tax demands of up to Rs.25,000 till the 2009-10 period and up to Rs. 10,000 till 2014-15 are to be waived off. With this decision, FM Sitharaman said, the government remains committed to enhancing ease of living and ease of doing business in India.

GDP Outlook

The government is expecting a nominal GDP growth of 10.5%. The FM redefined GDP as ‘Governance Development Performance,’ thereby reiterating the government’s promise of minimum government maximum governance.

• Revised fiscal deficit: The difference between revenue earned and expenses incurred by the government. For the current financial year, it is 5.8%.
• The good news is - the expected fiscal deficit for FY 25 is 5.1%

Infrastructure Development

Since this is an interim budget, big-ticket announcements have been kept on hold till July. Even then, the interim budget 2024 has taken some key steps to build and enhance the country’s infrastructure.

• Capital expenditure has been increased to 11.1 lakh crore. This is an increase of 11.1% from the previous figure.

Railways

• FM Sitharaman announced a plan to upgrade 40,000 normal rail bogies to coaches of the VandeBharat standard - welcome news for travelers in India.
• Projects like Namo Bharat and Metro Railway will be expanded to more cities.

Green and Sustainable Energy

This budget paves the way for more concentrated efforts to make India a powerhouse of green energy.

• The government aims to provide 300 units of free electricity to 10 million households with the help of rooftop solarisation
• The government is committed to increasing the wind energy capacity of the country to 1 gigawatt. The budget promises a viability gap funding for this.
• To lower the emission level and to reach the net-zero target by 2070, the government is committed to setting up a coal gasification and liquefaction capacity of 100MT by 2030.

The government has also mandated the blending of biogas with CNG. This move will further bolster the government’s vision of achieving the net zero target by 2070.

Interim Budget 2024 and Electric Vehicles

The government has recognized that the adoption of electric vehicles is contingent on the easy availability of charging stations. With this context -

• The government is committed to pushing the adoption of electric vehicles with a strategic focus on increasing charging stations.
• FM Sitharaman has pushed for greater adoption of Electric Vehicles through payment security mechanisms.

Centre-State Relationship

The budget has proposed a provision of Rs.75,000 crore in interest-free loans to support state governments and their reforms.

A Trailer of Viksit Bharat

Readers must keep in mind that this is an interim budget that has been presented before the elections. The full budget will be presented in July when the government will present the road map of the ambitious Viksit Bharat plan.

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