 "Union Budget 2024: From job creation to agriculture, the big takeaways")
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled the Union Budget 2024 on Tuesday.
Sitharaman presented her record seventh Union Budget and the first of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA 3.0 government.
“India’s economic growth continues to be the shining exception and will remain so in the years ahead,” Sitharaman said. “India’s inflation continues to be low and stable moving towards the 4 per cent target.”
But what are some of the big takeaways from the Union Budget?
Let’s take a closer look:
Centre’s priorities
Sitharaman said the 2024 Budget focuses on employment, skilling, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and the middle class.
Sitharaman also outlined the following nine priorities for the Centre aimed at transforming India into a developed nation by 2047.
Productivity and resilience in agriculture
Employment and skilling
Inclusive human resource development and social justice
Manufacturing and services
Urban development
Energy security
Infrastructure
Innovation, research and development
Next generation reforms
She laid out a prime minister’s package of five schemes and programmes aimed at the youth.
This programme, over a five-year period, will provide upskilling and employment opportunities for over 4.1 crore youth.
The Centre will invest Rs 2 lakh crore in the programme.
Sitharaman said the Centre has allocated Rs 1.48 lakh crore for education, employment and skilling.
The First Timers scheme will provide a one-month wage to all the newly-employed in the private sector.
The government will pay up to Rs 15,000 in three installments to those receiving a salary of up to Rs 1 lakh per month.
Impact Shorts
View AllThe scheme will benefit 2.1 crore youth.
The government is also assisting those in manufacturing jobs with regard to first-time employees.
The Centre said it will provide an incentive at a ‘specified scale’ directly to the employee and the employer with respect to their EPFO contribution in the first four years of employment.
The scheme is likely to help 30 lakh youth and their employers.
The Centre is also offering support to employers to assist in job creation.
The scheme will give employers up to Rs 3,000 a month for two years for each additional employee within a salary of 1 lakh in all sectors.
As per Indian Express, the Centre is prioritising job creation to reap the benefits of the country’s demographic dividend. The youth need to be given jobs to combat financial and social distress. The newspaper also quoted experts as saying that long-term investments are critical to increase the population’s capacity-building.
Taxes
Sitharaman also announced changes in the new tax regime including changing the slabs and increasing the standard deduction from 50,000 to 75,000.
Sitharaman said those opting for the new tax regime can save up to Rs 17,500.
The revised slabs are:
Rs 0 to Rs 3 lakh – Nil
Rs 3 to Rs 7 lakh – 5 per cent
Rs 7 to Rs 10 lakh – 10 per cent
Rs 10 to Rs 12 lakh – 15 per cent
Rs 12 to Rs 15 lakh – 20 per cent
Over Rs 15 lakh – 30 per cent
Sitharaman also increased deduction on pension from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000.
She said this would offer relief to around four crore salaried individuals and pensioners.
She also announced the abolition of the ‘angel tax’ for investors to boost the entrepreneurial spirit and support innovation.
Sitharaman said the long-term capital gains tax on all financial and non-financial assets would be hiked from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent.
Short-term capital gains tax on certain assets are slated to be increased to 20 per cent.
Sitharaman set the exemption limit for capital gains at Rs 1.25 lakh per year.
According to Indian Express, the increase in equity investments and profit booking by investors is likely the reason for the changes in capital gains.
Infrastructure
The Centre has put aside Rs 11,11,111 crore for capital infrastructure including a boost for the energy sector.
It has made a provision of Rs 2.66 lakh crore for rural development including rural infrastructure.
It will create investment-ready “plug and play” industrial parks with complete infrastructure in or around 100 cities.
The go-ahead for 12 industrial parks under the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme will be given.
Phase 4 of the PM Gram Sadak Yojana will witness all-weather connectivity to 25,000 rural habitats.
The PM Awas Yojana Urban 2.0 will also meet the housing needs of 1 crore urban poor and middle-class families with an investment of ₹ 10 lakh crore.
This includes Rs 2.2 lakh crore from the Centre over the next five years.
A provision will also be made of interest subsidy to facilitate loans at affordable rates.
Agriculture
The Centre has made allocated Rs 1.52 lakh crore for agriculture in this Budget.
Sitharaman said the Centre is focusing on increasing productivity and climate resilient varieties of crops. The Centre will release 109 new high-yielding and climate-resilient varieties of 32 field and horticulture crops for cultivation by farmers.
Sitharaman said 1 crore farmers will be initiated into natural farming over the next few years.
She said this will be supported by certification and branding.
The government will establish 10,000 need-based bio-input resource centres as well as large scale clusters for vegetable production near major consumption hubs.
The Centre will also facilitate the implementation of the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in agriculture. The Jan Samarth-based Kisan Credit Card will also be launched in five states.
The Union Government has made a huge push in agriculture, as per Indian Express.
Bihar and Andhra
The Centre has announced special sops for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh**.**
Sitharaman said the states in the eastern part of India are rich in endowments and have strong cultural traditions.
The Union government under the Purvodaya scheme will push the all-round development of the east of India including Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
The government has announced the development of road connectivity projects including the Patna-Purnea Expressway, Buxar-Bhagalpur Expressway, Bodhgaya, Rajgir, Vaishali and Darbhanga spurs, and an additional two-lane bridge over river Ganga at Buxar.
The total cost of this investment is Rs 26,000 crore.
It has announced the setting up of a new 2400 MW power plant at Pirpainti at a cost of Rs 21,400 crore.
New airports, medical colleges and sports infrastructure in Bihar will also be constructed.
The Centre has recognised Andhra Pradesh’s need for a capital and offered special financial support through multilateral development agencies.
It has allocated Rs 15,000 crore for the capital.
As per Indian Express, the Centre has sought to firm up the support of its allies particularly the JD(U) and TDP through these special packages to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.
With inputs from agencies
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