Budget Speech LIVE: FM Sitharaman presents interim budget 2024

PTI, Feb 1, 2024, 11:07 AM IST

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is presenting her sixth straight Budget ahead of the Parliamentary elections, matching the record of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai.

Watch the Budget Speech LIVE:

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget speech LIVE Updates:

• Apt to look where we were at 2004, and where we are now; Govt to lay white paper in Parliament on mismanagement of economy prior to 2014
• Govt to withdraw old disputed direct tax demands of up to Rs 25,000 till FY2009 and Rs 10,000 for 2010-11 to 2014-15
• Sitharaman says no changes in tax rates for direct and indirect taxes, including import duties
• GST has reduced compliance burden; average monthly GST collection doubled to Rs 1.66 lakh crore
• Processing time of tax returns reduced from 93 days in FY14 to 10 days; refunds made faster
• Number of tax filers swelled by 2.4 times, direct tax collection trebled since 2014
• Fiscal deficit expected at 5.8 pc of GDP in FY24, down from 5.9 pc estimated earlier
• Tax receipts for 2024-25 projected at Rs 26.02 lakh cr
• 50-year interest-free loans of Rs 75,000 cr to be extended to states to realise dream of developed India
• Tourism has tremendous opportunities; Govt to take up development of iconic tourist centres to attract foreign tourists
• Govt to expand EV ecosystem for supporting charging infra; e-buses for public transport network to be encouraged
• Blending of compressed biogas in compressed natural gas for transport and piped natural gas will be mandatory
• Tripling of capex in last 4 years resulted in a multiplier effect on economic growth and employment generation
• Viability gap funding for harnessing offshore wind energy capacity of 1GW for achieving net zero emissions by 2070
• 40,000 normal railway bogies will be converted to Vande Bharat standard
• Capital spending for 2024-25 raised by 11 per cent to Rs 11.11 lakh crore or 3.4 per cent of GDP
• Three major railway corridors, including for cement, to be constructed
• New scheme to be launched for strengthening deep-tech technology for defence sector
• Application of nano DAP on various crops will be expanded in agri climatic zones
• FM Sitharaman announces plans to increase milk and dairy production
• Strategy to be developed for Atma Nirbharta for oilseeds production
• Healthcare cover under Ayushman Bharat to be extended to all ASHA & Anganwadi workers
• Efforts of value addition in agri sector and increasing farmers’ income will be stepped up
• The govt will pay utmost attention to ensure development of eastern region and its people
• Govt to set up more medical colleges utilising existing hospital infrastructure
• Govt will launch a housing scheme for deserving middle class to buy or build own houses
• Rooftop solarisation to ensure 1 cr household free electricity of up to 300 units per month, household to save Rs 15,000-18,000 annually
• Govt will adopt economic approach that facilitates sustainable development and improves productivity
• Government’s priority is to adequately and timely finance technology for MSMEs to grow
• We are close to achieving target of 3 cr under rural housing scheme; 2 cr more to be constructed in next 5 years
• India as a G20 host showed forward way and built consensus for solutions for problems being faced by the world
• To meet investment needs, our govt will prepare financial sector in terms of size, capacity, skills, regulatory framework
• The next 5 years will be years of unprecedented development and golden moments to realise the dream of developed India by 2047
• International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) has created robust gateway for flow of overseas capital
• Recently announced India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor will be game changer for India
• New world order emerging; India successfully navigated global challenges of fuel, fertiliser price spike
• Global affairs are becoming more complex and challenging with wars and conflicts
• Our govt has provided transparent, accountable, trust-based administration with citizen first approach
• Strengthening of financial sector helped make savings, credit and investments more efficient
• Proactive inflation management has helped keep inflation within manageable level
• STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) courses has seen enrolment of 43 per cent women, highest in the world
• Govt is focused on more comprehensive GDP, governance, development and performance
• Making Triple Talaq illegal, reserving one-third legislative seats for women highlight government’s women empowerment programme
• Skill India Mission has trained and upskilled 1.4 crore youth in the country
• India today has 80 chess grandmasters compared to 20 in 2010: FM in her Budget speech
• Direct benefit transfer of Rs 34 lakh cr through Jan Dhan accounts have resulted in savings of Rs 2.7 lakh cr
• Under PM Mudra Yojana, 43 crore loans aggregating to Rs 22.5 lakh crore were extended
• 30 crore Mudra yojana loans given to women in 10 years
• For our government, social justice is an effective and necessary model
• National Education Policy is ushering transformational reforms
• 11.8 crore farmers provided financial assistance under PM KISAN Yojana
• We are working to make India a developed country by 2047: Sitharaman
• Minimum support prices for ‘Annadata’ (farmers) increased periodically, appropriately
• India was facing enormous challenges when Modi government took office in 2014; govt overcame those in right earnest
• Worries about food eliminated through free ration for 80 crore people
• Structural reforms, pro-people programme and employment opportunities helped economy get new vigour, says Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
• Indian economy witnessed profound positive transformation in last 10 years, says FM Sitharaman.
• People of India looking ahead to future with hope and options, says Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget speech begins.

This would be the sixth time when Minister Nirmala Sitharaman would present the budget.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman would present the Union Budget 2024 shortly.

Sitharaman in her pre-election Budget, which technically is a vote on account and popularly termed an interim Budget, will seek Parliament’s nod for a grant in advance to meet the central government’s essential expenditure for the first four months of the new fiscal year that starts in April. A new government elected after the April/May general elections will present the full Budget, likely in July.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi government’s last Budget before the general elections is widely expected to contain a mix of measures for the economy and electorally significant segments like farmers and women.

Peppered with political statements, it may be a political document with a snapshot of the Modi government’s triumphs over the last 10 years and pointers to how it wants to take the country forward.

With pressure for populist measures off after recent emphatic wins in three states, including Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, Sitharaman is expected to stick to being fiscally prudent while sprinkling sops for sectors like agriculture and engines of the economy that would create jobs and boost consumption.

While convention dictates that no major policy announcements are made in the interim Budget, it however, presents an occasion for spectacle just weeks ahead of the Model Code of Conduct coming into force for the general elections.

Some finance ministers in the past have used the occasion to announce doles for rural India and the middle class.

For instance, the then Finance Minister Piyush Goyal in his interim Budget in 2019 had announced Rs 75,000 crore outlay for PM KISAN Samman Nidhi scheme wherein farmers are paid Rs 6,000 cash a year.

He also raised standard deduction to Rs 50,000, and came up with tax rebate to ensure that individuals with income of up to Rs 7 lakh per annum are not taxed.

In the pre-election Budget of 2014, Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the Congress-led UPA government slashed excise duty on cars, SUVs, two wheelers, capital goods and consumer durables to boost manufacturing.

Pranab Mukherjee too in his interim Budget in 2009 hiked the outlay for rural sector schemes to shield economy from the aftermath of global financial crisis triggered by collapse of US-based investment bank Lehman Brothers in 2008.

Jaswant Singh of the BJP-led NDA government in the 2004 pre-election interim Budget announced sops for central government employees.

The first interim Budget of independent India was presented by the then Finance Minister R K Shanmukham Chetty on November 26, 1947. C D Deshmukh presented the interim Budget in 1952, TT Krishnamachari in 1957.

Former Prime Minister Morarji Desai presented two interim Budgets, one in 1962 and other in 1967. Desai has the distinction of presenting six Budgets in a row. He had presented a total number of 10 Union Budgets.

Among others, Manmohan Singh presented interim Budget in 1996, Yashwant Sinha in 1991, R Venkataraman in 1980, H M Patel in 1977, and Y B Chavan in 1971.

As the Parliamentary elections are due, Sitharaman’s interim Budget may not contain any major policy changes.

Speaking at an industry event in December 2023, Sitharaman had ruled out any “spectacular announcement” in the interim Budget, saying it would just be a vote-on-account before the general elections.

After the Modi government came to power in 2014, Arun Jaitley took charge of the finance ministry and presented five Budgets in a row from 2014-15 to 2018-19. It was in 2017 that Jaitley departed from the colonial-era tradition of presenting Budget on the last working day of February to 1st of the month.

After the 2019 general elections, in the Modi 2.0 government, Sitharaman was given the charge of the finance portfolio. She became the second woman to have presented Budget after Indira Gandhi, who had presented the Budget for financial year 1970-71.

In 2019, Sitharaman did away with the traditional Budget briefcase and instead went for a ‘bahi-khata’ with the national emblem to carry the speech and other documents.

Under Sitharaman, India has weathered the Covid pandemic with an array of policy measures announced for the poor and continued its tag of the fastest growing major economy and a ‘bright spot’ in the world economy.

India is racing to become a USD 5 trillion economy by 2027-28 and a USD 30 trillion by 2047.

Sitharaman is expected to come up with some measures, especially to boost the rural sector as the agriculture sector growth in 2023-24 is estimated to decelerate to 1.8 per cent, from 4 per cent in the preceding year.