23 July - Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget for the 7th consecutive time • Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman presented the ‘Union Budget 2024-25’ in Parliament today. The highlights of the Budget are as follows: • Total Receipts: Rs 32.07 lakh crore • Total Expenditure: Rs 48.21 lakh crore • Gross Tax Receipts: Rs 25.83 lakh crore • Fiscal Deficit: 4.9 per cent of GDP. • The Government aims to bring the deficit below 4.5 per cent next year. • Inflation remains low, stable and moving towards the target of 4 per cent. • Core Inflation (non-food, non-fuel) 3.1 per cent. • The Budget has a special focus on employment, skills, MSMEs and middle class Prime Minister’s five schemes and initiatives to provide employment, skills and other opportunities for 4.1 crore youth in five years. • 20 lakh youth will be skilled in the next five years. • 1,000 industrial training institutes will be upgraded. New scheme for internship of one crore youth in five hundred top companies in five years. Nine budget priorities towards 'Developed India': 1. Productivity and adaptability in agriculture 2. Employment and skill training 3. Inclusive human resource development and social justice 4. Manufacturing and services 5. Urban development 6. Energy security 7. Infrastructure 8. Innovation, research and development, and 9. Next generation reforms Priority 1: Productivity and adaptability in agriculture • Allocation of Rs 1.52 lakh crore for agriculture and related sectors. • 109 new high-yielding and climate-friendly varieties of 32 agricultural and horticultural crops will be released for farmers' cultivation. • One crore farmers across the country will be linked to natural farming in the next two years with certification and branding system. • 10,000 need based bio-input resource centres to be set up for natural farming. • Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in agriculture to be implemented in three years to involve farmers and their land. Priority 2: Employment and Skill Training • Following 3 schemes for ‘Employment Linked Incentives’ as part of PM package: Scheme A- First time job seekers, Scheme B- Job creation in manufacturing, Scheme C- Support to employers. • To increase participation of women in workforce: o Establishment of women hostels and creches with industrial support. o Organizing women centric skill training programmes o Enhancing market access of women self help group enterprises o New centrally sponsored scheme for skill development of 20 lakh youth over a period of five years under PM package. o Model Skill Loan Scheme to provide loan facility up to Rs. 7.5 lakh. o Financial assistance for loans up to Rs 10 lakh for higher education in domestic institutions to youth who are not eligible for any benefits under government schemes and policies. • Special financial assistance of Rs 15,000 crore in the current financial year through multilateral development agencies. • Total allocation of Rs 3 lakh crore for schemes benefiting women and girls. • Socio-economic development of tribal families in tribal-dominated villages and aspirational districts, with 5 crore tribal people from 63,000 villages to be beneficiaries. • Provision of Rs 11,11,111 crore (3.4 per cent of GDP) for capital expenditure. • Provision of interest-free long-term loan of Rs 1.5 lakh crore this year also to assist states in their resource allocation. • Phase IV of PMGSY to be launched to provide all-weather road connectivity to 25,000 rural habitations. • Comprehensive development of Vishnupad Temple Corridor, Mahabodhi Temple Corridor and Rajgir. • Assistance for development of temples, monuments, crafts, wildlife sanctuaries, natural landscapes and pristine beaches of Odisha. • Venture capital fund of Rs 1,000 crore with a continued thrust on growing the space economy by 5 times in the next 10 years. • NPS Vatsalya as a scheme for contributions by parents and guardians for minors. • Proposal to increase standard deduction for salaried employees from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000. • Proposal to increase deduction on family pension for pensioners from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000.
