Understand the interim Budget with the help of these 10 graphics

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman captured the attention of the entire country as she stood up in Parliament and delivered the Budget speech — a sixth time in a row. In her interim Budget speech, the finance minister reached out to aspirational India with what seemed like a long-term vision.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s speech, her shortest by far, steered clear of any populist announcements and even left the income tax slabs untouched. However, keen observers noted that the Budget was suggesting that the government was confident that it would return to power in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Following the Budget speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it “inclusive and innovative”, adding that it was a reflection of the young aspirations of a young India.

We have broken down the finance minister’s speech and simplify it for you in these simple eight graphics.

In her speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman used several acronyms, including one for FDI. She said that FDI has a new meaning — ‘First Develop India’. And on the topic of FDI, the finance minister said, “The FDI inflow during 2014-23 was $596 billion marking a golden era. That is twice the inflow during 2005-14.”

The revised estimate of the total receipts other than borrowings is Rs 27.56 lakh crore, of which the tax receipts are Rs 23.24 lakh crore. The revised estimate of the total expenditure is Rs 44.90 lakh crore.

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Coming to 2024-25, the total receipts other than borrowings and the total expenditure are estimated at Rs 30.80 and 47.66 lakh crore respectively

As is convention, the finance minister has made no changes to the personal income tax slabs. “I would like to assure the taxpayers that their contributions have been used wisely for the development of the country and welfare of its people,” Sitharaman said in her Budget speech.

In the Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made a couple of announcements, which will boost growth and improve the economy.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman focused significantly on women and women empowerment in her Budget speech. The “empowerment of women through entrepreneurship, ease of living, and dignity for them has gained momentum in these 10 years,” the minister said, adding that all these measures are getting reflected in the increasing participation of women in the workforce.

India’s bid to go green also found mention in the interim Budget. The ‘Pradhanmantri Suryodaya Yojana’ with the target of installing rooftop solar units was launched earlier in January, on the same day of the consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

India’s rail connectivity will also receive a boost, courtesy the Budget. The minister has announced that three major economic railway corridor programmes will be installed and 40,000 normal railway bogies will be converted to Vande Bharat standards.

Presenting the interim Budget 2024-25, Sitharaman said this will be a golden era for India’s tech savvy youth. “A corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore will be established with 50-year interest free loan. The corpus will provide long-term financing or refinancing with long tenures and low or nil interest rates,” the minister said.