Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the first Union Budget of the Modi 3.0 government and her seventh consecutive budget during the Monsoon Session of Parliament. She highlighted that this budget’s focus will be on employment, skilling, MSME and middle class.
She also said that the government will launch scheme to provide internship opportunities to 1 crore youth in 500 top companies over 5 years.
She also announced the new centrally-sponsored scheme for skilling in collaboration with states, industry and said 20 lakh youth will be skilled over 5 years.
On Tuesday, Sitharaman met with President Droupadi Murmu before presenting the full Budget for 2024-25
and proposed a reduction in the basic customs duty on gold and silver to 6 per cent and platinum to 6.4 per cent. Presenting Budget for 2024-25, she also announced the removal of basic customs duty on ferronickel, blister copper, while increasing it the same to 15 per cent from 10 per cent on specified telecom equipment. The reduction in basic customs duty on of gold, silver and platinum has been a long-pending demand of the gems and jewelry industry. The government on Tuesday announced that it will undertake a comprehensive review of the Income Tax Act to make it easy to read. Presenting the Union Budget for 2024-25, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also said the government will come out with SoP (standard operating procedure) for TDS defaults and simplify and rationalize compounding of such offences. She added that two tax exemption regimes for charitable trusts will be merged into one.
The Interim Budget on February 1 featured no major policy changes or new benefits for the middle class.
Following tradition, the finance minister visited the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan before heading to Parliament. President Murmu offered ‘dahi-chini’ (curd-sugar), considered auspicious, to Sitharaman before she left to present the Union Budget.
The Union Cabinet met afterward to clear the Budget. Before the presentation in Parliament, the Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will approve the Budget for fiscal 2024-25 (April 2024 to March 2025).
As per the Economic Survey, the economy is projected to grow by 6.5-7% in the current fiscal year.