Union Budget 2024 | Union Budget 2024-25

Union Budget 2024 | Union Budget 2024-25

The Union Budget of India is the annual financial statement presented by the Finance Minister of India in the Parliament. It outlines the government’s revenues and expenditures for the upcoming financial year, and includes information on changes in tax laws, government spending, and economic projections. The budget is typically presented in the month of February and is a key event in India’s economic calendar. The budget is presented in two parts, Part A and B, with A presenting the financial statement and B presenting the demand for grants.

Who Presented The Union Budget 2024 ?

The Union Budget of India is the annual financial statement presented by the Finance Minister of India in the Parliament.In Union Budget 2024,Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has presented the annual Budget on February 1st.It will be the sixth time that Sitharaman will present the Budget.

Budget 2024 Highlights:

“The Indian economy has witnessed a great transmission in the last 10 years”, said the Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Also said that the government is working to make India a Viksit Bharat by 2047. In the full budget in July, our Government will present a detailed roadmap for our pursuit of ‘Viksit Bharat’. This interim budget 2024 will empower all 4 pillars of Viksit Bharat. The 4 pillars are as follows,

• Yuva,
• Garib,
• Mahila, and
• Kisan.

This Interim Budget 2024 will guarantee to make India a developed nation by 2047.

The Finance Minister also says,

• The Capital Expenditure outlay for 2024-25 is increased by 11.1% to ₹ 11,11,111 crore rupees amounts to 3.4% of GDP.
• CapEx has a massive tripling over the last 4 years which made a huge impact on economic growth and employment creation.
• The Revised Estimate of the total receipts other than borrowings is ₹ 27.56 lakh crore, while the tax receipts are ₹ 23.24 lakh crore. The Revised Estimate of the total expenditure is ₹ 44.90 lakh crore.
• The revenue receipts at ₹ 30.03 lakh crore are expected to be higher than the budget estimate.
• The Revised Estimate of the fiscal deficit stood at 5.8 percent of GDP.
• The total receipts other than borrowings are estimated to be ₹ 30.80 lakh crore and the total expenditure is estimated at ₹ 47.66 lakh crore. The tax receipts are estimated at ₹ 26.02 lakh crore.
• The scheme of a fifty-year interest free loan for capital expenditure to states will be continued for 2024-25 with a total outlay of ₹1.3 lakh crore.
• The fiscal deficit in 2024-25 is estimated to be 5.1 percent of GDP.
• The fiscal deficit will be reduced below 4.5 percent by 2025-26.
• The gross and net market borrowings through dated securities are estimated at ₹ 14.13 lakh crore and ₹ 11.75 lakh crore
• The Government proposes to create an amount of ₹1 lakh Crore to boost private investment in sunrise technologies.
• Whole nation approach was taken to overcome the covid pandemic and free rations were provided for 80 crore people
• Direct financial assistance was extended to 11.8 crore farmers including marginal and small farmers
• Under PM Fasal Bima Yojana crop insurance is given to 4 crore farmers
• The interim budget 2024-25 has promised to step up value addition in the agricultural sector and boosting of farmer’s income
• Electronic National Agricultural Market has connected 1361 mandis and provided services to 1.8 crore farmers by trading worth ₹ 3 lakh crore
• Minimum Support Price (MSP) for ‘Annadata’ (farmers) has increased periodically.
• 38 lakh farmers had benefited through Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana and generated 10 lakh jobs.
• 2.4 lakh Self Help Groups (SHGs) were assisted through PM Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Yojana and 60,000 individuals with credit linkages.
• After the successful adoption of Nano Urea, the application of Nano DAP on various crops will be expanded in all agro-climatic zones.
• Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman laid made the strategy for “Amrit Kaal”.
• Enrolments under PMJJBY in Aspirational Districts increased from 1737 per lakh population in 2018 to 13195 per lakh population in October 2023.
• It is an important policy priority for our government to ensure timely and adequate finances, relevant technologies, and appropriate training for the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) to grow and also compete globally. Orienting the regulatory environment to facilitate their growth will be an important element of this policy mix.”
• Aligning with the ‘Panchamrit’ goals, our government will facilitate sustaining high and more resource-efficient economic growth. This will work towards energy security in terms of availability, accessibility, and affordability.
• Sabka Saath in the last 10 years, the government has assisted 25 crore people to get freedom from multi-dimensional poverty.
• “Direct Benefit Transfer” worth Rs. 34 lakh crore from the Government using PM-Jan Dhan accounts has led to savings of Rs. 2.7 lakh crore for the Government and helped to provide more funds for “Garib Kalyan”.
• PM-SVANidhi has provided credit assistance to 78 lakh street vendors and from that a total of 2.3 lakh have received credit for the third time.
• PM-JANMAN Yojana helps in the empowerment of particularly vulnerable tribal groups, who have remained outside the realm of development so far.
• The Minister announced 75,000 crore rupees as 50 year interest free loan to support the milestone-linked reforms by the State Governments for the growth and development enabling reforms needed in the states for realizing the vision of “Viksit Bharat”.
• 1.4 crore youth in the country have been trained and 54 lakh youth were upskilled and reskilled, and 3000 new ITIs were established through the Skill India Mission.
• A huge number of new institutions of higher learning, namely 7 IITs, 16 IIITs, 7 IIMs, 15 AIIMS, and 390 Universities have been set up in the country.
• PM Awas Yojana (Grameen) is close to achieving the target of 3 crore houses with an additional 2 crore houses targeted for the next 5 years. 
• The rooftop solarisation project will allow 1 crore houses to claim 300 units of free electricity every month. This will benefit in Savings up to 15,000 to 18,000 rupees annually, charging of electric vehicles, entrepreneurship opportunities, and employment opportunities.
• Green Energy, to achieve the commitment of ‘net-zero’ by 2070. The following measures have been taken,
  1. 1. Viability gap funding for harnessing offshore wind energy potential for the initial capacity of 1GW.
     2. Coal gasification and liquefaction capacity of 100MT to be set up by 2030.
     3. Phased mandatory blending of compressed biogas (CBG) in compressed natural gas (CNG) for transport and piped natural gas (PNG) for domestic purposes.
     4. Financial assistance is to be provided for the procurement of biomass aggregation machinery to support collection.
• Payment security mechanisms will encourage the adoption of e-buses for public transport networks.
• A new scheme of bio-manufacturing and bio-foundry to provide environment friendly alternatives like biodegradable polymers, bio-plastics, bio-pharmaceuticals, and bio-agri-inputs.
• Non-fossil fuel installed electric capacity increased from 32.3% in 2014 to 43.9% in 2023.
• Organizing G20 meetings in 60 places presented the diversity of India to a global audience and the economic strength has made the country an attractive destination for business and conference tourism.
• Projects for port connectivity, tourism, and infrastructure will be taken up on the island including Lakshadweep. 
• 5 integrated aquaparks will be set to boost the Fisheries sector. Since 2013-14, seafood exports have also doubled. 
• Implementation of Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) will be stepped up to:
  1. 1. Enhance aquaculture productivity from existing 3 to 5 tons per hectare
     2. Double exports to 1 lakh crore
     3. Generate 55 lakh employment opportunities in the future
• India is the world’s largest milk producer but with low productivity of milch animals. To control foot and mouth disease new programs will be set up under the existing schemes such as Rashtriya Gokul Mission, National Livestock Mission, and Infrastructure Development Funds for dairy processing and animal husbandry.
• It has been decided to enhance the target for Lakhpati Didi from  2 crore to 3 crore.
• 83 lakh SHGs with 9 crore women are transforming the rural socio-economic landscape with empowerment and self-reliance. It has assisted nearly 1 crore women to become Lakhpati Didi already.
• Empowerment of Women entrepreneurs with ease of living and dignity has increased in the last 10 years. While 30 crore MUDRA yojana loans have been provided to the women entrepreneurs. 
• In higher education, female enrolment has gone up to 28 percent in 10 years.
• STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) has registered girls and women enrolment of 43 percent, which is the highest in the world.
• To focus mainly on four major castes like
  1. 1. ‘Garib’ (Poor) – Garib Kalyan, Desh Ka Kalyan
     2. ‘Mahilayen’ (Women) – Nari Shakti
     3. ‘Yuva’ (Youth) – Empowering the Youth
     4. ‘Annadata’ (Farmer) – Welfare of Farmers
• The next generation reforms are ‘Reform, Perform, and Transform’.
• The government is working with an approach to development that is all-round, all-pervasive and all-inclusive (सर्वांगीण, सर्वस्पर्शी और सर्वसमावेशी).
• New Medical Colleges will be set up by utilizing the existing hospital infrastructure under various departments. 
• ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers, and helpers will also be covered under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme.
• In the last 10 years, the direct tax collections have more than trebled and the number of return filers swelled to 2.4 times.
• Under the new tax regime, the tax rates have been reduced and rationalized. There is now no tax with income up to ₹ 7 lakh, up from ₹ 2.2 lakh in the financial year 2013-14.
• The threshold for presumptive taxation for retail businesses was increased from ₹ 2 crore to ₹ 3 crore.
• The threshold for professionals eligible for presumptive taxation was increased from ₹ 50 lakh to ₹ 75 lakh.
• The corporate tax rate was decreased from 30 % to 22 % for existing domestic companies and to 15 % for certain new manufacturing companies.
• A new Form 26AS and pre-filling of tax returns have made filing tax returns simpler and easier by reducing the average processing time of returns from 93 days in the year 2013-14 to a mere 10 days in 2024.
• “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, and Sabka Vishwas” as the country is proud of our youth scaling new heights in sports.
• Chess prodigy Praggnanandhaa put up a stiff fight against the World Champion Magnus Carlsson in 2023.
• India has over 80 chess grandmasters compared to a little over 20 in 2010.
• For our tech savvy youth, a corpus of rupees 1 lakh crore with a 50-year interest free loan will encourage the private sector to scale up research and innovation significantly in the sunrise domains.
• To enhance the dignity of women the government has made the ‘Triple Talaq’ illegal, reserved 1/3 of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and State legislative assemblies, and given over 70 percent of houses under PM Awas Yojana in rural areas to women as sole or joint owners.
• Rise in female labour force participation rate leading to women led development increased from 23.3% in 2017-18 to 37% in 2022-23.
• According to a recent survey by a leading consulting firm, 94 % of industry leaders view the transition to GST as largely positive and according to 80 % of the respondents, it has led to supply chain optimization.
• The tax base of GST more than doubled and the average monthly gross GST collection has almost doubled to ₹ 1.66 lakh crore this year.
• States SGST revenue in the post-GST period of 2017-18 to 2022-23, has achieved a buoyancy of 1.22. In contrast, the tax buoyancy of State revenues from subsumed taxes in the pre-GST four-year period of 2012-13 to 2015-16 was a mere 0.72.
• The steps taken in Customs to facilitate international trade have resulted in a decline in the import release time by 47 % to 71 hours at Inland Container Depots, by 28 % to 44 hours at air cargo complexes, and by 27 % to 85 hours at seaports, over the last four years since 2019.
• The government is committed to empowering Amrit Peedhi, the Yuva.
• The government is mainly focused on more comprehensive GDP, governance, development, and performance.
• The government has provided transparent, accountable, people-centric, and prompt trust-based administration with approaches like “citizen-first” and “minimum government, maximum governance”.
• The exports will be doubled to ₹ 1 lakh crore rupees and this will generate 5 lakh new jobs.
• Implementation of three major economic railway corridor programmes will be implemented under PM Gati Shakti to enable multi-modal connectivity to improve logistics efficiency and reduce cost. They are as
  1. 1. Energy, mineral, and cement corridors,
     2. Port connectivity corridors, and 
     3. High traffic density corridors.                             
• Under maternal and child health care various schemes will be brought under a single roof and the improvement of Anganwadi Centres under Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, development of U-Win platform and Mission Indradhanush will be carried out.
• The Indian government is encouraging vaccination for girls in the age group of 9 to 14 years to prevent cervical cancer.
• The average real income of the people has increased by 50 %, inflation is moderate.
• Goods and Services Tax has enabled ‘One Nation, One Market, One Tax’. Tax reforms have led to the deepening and widening of the tax base.
• To unlock the entrepreneurial aspirations of our youth, 43 crore loans aggregating to Rs. 22.5 lakh crore under PM Mudra Yojana have been sanctioned.

Union Budget 2024-25 PDF Download:

About Current Finance Minister of India : Nirmala Sitharaman

In the intricate tapestry of India’s economic governance, Nirmala Sitharaman stands as a formidable figure, holding the reins as the Finance Minister. As the custodian of the country’s fiscal policies and economic strategies, Sitharaman plays a pivotal role in shaping India’s economic destiny. Let’s delve into the background, achievements, and key initiatives of the current Finance Minister of India.

Early Life and Education:

Nirmala Sitharaman was born on August 18, 1959, in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. A highly educated individual, she holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Seethalakshmi Ramasamy College, Tiruchirapalli, and a Master’s degree in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. Her academic prowess laid the foundation for a career marked by excellence and commitment.

Political Journey:

Sitharaman’s entry into politics was a journey of determination and dedication. Before joining active politics, she had a successful career in the corporate sector and as a senior functionary in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-affiliated think tank, the Vivekananda International Foundation. Her entry into politics was marked by her appointment as the spokesperson for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Rising through the Ranks:

Nirmala Sitharaman’s ascent within the BJP was swift. Known for her articulate communication and analytical skills, she became a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament, in 2016. Her prowess in economic matters and strategic understanding saw her appointed as the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Commerce and Industry in 2014.

Key Achievements as the Finance Minister:

1. Historic Tax Reforms: Sitharaman played a crucial role in implementing historic tax reforms, including the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2017. Despite initial challenges, these reforms aimed to streamline the indirect tax structure and create a unified market.
2. Economic Revival Measures: In response to economic challenges, particularly those posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Sitharaman introduced several measures to stimulate economic revival. These included relief packages, liquidity support, and sector-specific incentives to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on businesses and individuals.
3. Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan: The Finance Minister was at the forefront of launching the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (Self-Reliant India Campaign), a comprehensive economic package aimed at boosting domestic manufacturing, promoting innovation, and making India self-reliant in various sectors.
4. Public Sector Bank Reforms: Sitharaman has been actively involved in implementing reforms in the banking sector, including the merger of public sector banks to create larger, more robust entities. These measures are intended to enhance efficiency, improve governance, and strengthen the banking system.
5. Infrastructure Push: Recognizing the importance of infrastructure in economic development, the Finance Minister has consistently emphasized infrastructure spending. Budget allocations and policy measures have been directed towards enhancing connectivity, promoting sustainable development, and creating jobs.

FAQ on Union Budget 2024

1. What is the Union Budget of India? : The Union Budget is a comprehensive financial statement that outlines the government’s revenue and expenditure for a fiscal year. It includes details about taxes, spending, and the overall financial policies of the government.
2. When is the Union Budget presented? : The Union Budget is usually presented on the last working day of February. However, the date may vary, and in certain cases, the budget may be presented at a later date.
3. Who presents the Union Budget?  : The Union Budget is presented by the Finance Minister of India. The Finance Minister is a key member of the Cabinet and is responsible for managing the country’s economic policies.
4. What is the purpose of the Union Budget?  : The Union Budget serves several purposes, including outlining the government’s fiscal policies, allocating resources to different sectors, addressing economic challenges, and promoting overall economic development.
5. What are the key components of the Union Budget?  : The key components include:
   • Revenue Receipts and Expenditure
   • Capital Receipts and Expenditure
   • Fiscal Deficit
   • Allocation to different sectors (e.g., healthcare, education, infrastructure)
   • Taxation policies