Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday presented the first Budget of Modi 3.0 government.
The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi met in Parliament to approve the Union Budget ahead of its presentation by the Finance Minister.
While delivering the budget speech, the minister said, “The people of India have reposed their faith in the govt led by PM Modi and re-elected it for the historic third term.”
“India’s economic growth continues to be a shining exception and will remain so in the years ahead. India’s inflation continues to be low, stable and moving towards 4% target,” she said.
Focus on 4 major areas:
“As mentioned in the interim Budget we need to focus on four major areas— the poor, women, youth and the farmer.”
“In this Budget, we particularly focus on employment, skilling, MSMEs and the middle class,” she added.
“As mentioned in the interim Budget, we need to focus on 4 different castes, the poor, women, youth and the farmer. For farmers, we announced higher Minimum Support Prices for all major crops delivering on the promise for at least a 50% margin over cost. PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana was extended for 5 years benefitting more than 80 crore people,” she said.
“I am happy to announce the Prime Minister’s package of 5 schemes and initiatives to facilitate employment, skilling and other opportunities for 4.1 crore youth over 5 years with a central outlay of Rs 2 lakh crores. This year we have made a provision of Rs 1.48 lakh crores for education, employment and skilling,” she said.
Nine priorities for generating ample opportunities
On Budget priorities, the Finance Minister said that in the interim Budget the government promised to present a detailed roadmap for the pursuit of Viksit Bharat.
“In line with the strategy set in the interim Budget, this Budget envisages sustained efforts on the following nine priorities for generating ample opportunities for all — productivity and resilience in agriculture, employment and skilling, inclusive human resource development and social justice, manufacturing and services, urban development, emergency security, infrastructure, innovation R&D, next-gen reforms. Subsequent Budgets will build on these and more priorities and actions,” she said.
Also Read: Budget 2024: Nirmala Sitharaman highlights 9 priorities for ‘Viksit Bharat’
Over 11 lakh crore rupees capex for infra
Finance Minister said significant investments have been made to build robust infrastructure.
“Over 11 lakh crore rupees for capital expenditure have been allocated for infrastructure development. This would be 3.4% of our GDP…Private investment in infrastructure by private sector will be promoted through viability gap funding and enabling policies…”
