Union Budget 2024 has been presented by Mrs Nirmala Sitharaman, the Finance Minister of India and the annual financial statement gives an idea of India’s economic policy in the global and domestic environments. This document briefs the government’s economic policies on revenues and expenditures for fiscal year 2024-25. This budget is to be growth-oriented, infrastructural, socially developmental, and fiscally responsible.
Economic Context
The budget is presented at a time when the global economy is facing inflation and the tensions in the supply and geopolitical structures are growing. In India, home is unlocking from the worst phase of the COVID-19 pandemic impact on the economy and is planning to build sustainability and employment. On this aspect, the government has estimated the growth of GDP at 6 per cent for this year as well as the next year. 5 per cent for the financial year of 2024-25; this brings up the subject of balanced development and growth.
Key Highlights
Taxation:
- Personal Income Tax: It gives relief to the middle class by proposing changes in the income tax slabs in the budget. The simple allowance has been raised and standard deductions have been changed to provide more take-home money for the taxpayers.
- Corporate Tax: Despite some easing the focus remains on the further reduction of corporate tax rates and the flattening of corporate tax systems. There are the following proposals, for instance, the government has suggested decreasing the corporate income tax on new manufacturing ventures to facilitate investment.
- GST and Indirect Taxes: Sustained measures towards the simplification of the GST regime go on as measures to reduce the compliance costs of the GST regime for small entities. Some tariffs on specific products have been changed to boost the production of local industries.
Infrastructure and Investment:
Infrastructure development and expenditure claim a large proportion of the budget with spending on roads, railways and urban development projects. A new fund known as Infrastructure Development Fund has been created to enable access to private capital.
The National Monetization Pipeline remains at the centre of attention, a plan designed and launched to use public property to get the revenue for more infrastructure projects.
Social Sector Initiatives:
- Health and Education: Higher spending on health and education is one of the notable features. To increase the investments in physical capital, the budget provides money for the development of healthcare facilities, particularly in rural regions, and the enhancement of education with accounting for digital technologies.
- Welfare Schemes: It has indexed new welfare schemes that have been launched by the government to support women, children and the aged. The PM Awas Yojana, (housing for all) gets a considerable fillip to realise its goals and objectives.
Agriculture and Rural Development:
The budget lays stress on agriculture subsidies with enhanced allocation for irrigation, crop insurance, and subsidies on fertilizers and seeds.
Some of the activities that fall under rural development are the improvement of infrastructure, access to the market and establishment of rural business through RIDF.
Energy and Environment:
Renewable energy is given a big boost, which includes incentives for solar and wind energy undertakings. In addition, the budget also provides for the National Green Hydrogen Mission; India plans to become a global exporter of this form of hydrogen.
Environmental aspects are managed by a rise in expenditure on the sustainable management of forests, wildlife protection, and the fight against pollution.
Digital Economy and Innovation:
Prolonged focus on digitalisation with spending on technology networks such as 5G and broadband in rural regions.
General support to new ventures and Innovation through various programs such as tax reliefs and grants for researching new products.
Fiscal Discipline
Nonetheless, the government intends to stick to a fiscal discipline with a fiscal deficit of 5. 9 per cent of the GDP. The latter is expected to be achieved with the help of measures to increase tax discipline and subsidy optimization.
Conclusion
The Union Budget 2024 presented by the Hon’ble Finance Minister talks about growth, infrastructure, and social security at large. It has economic growth on one side and fiscal responsibility on the other to make India a confident and prophetic economy in the wake of global challenges.