Budget Strikes Balance Between Growth And Fiscal Discipline, Says Finance Minister
Sitharaman also said the production-linked incentive schemes continue to remain attractive for the manufacturing sector.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday that the Union budget achieves an optimal balance between fostering growth, creating jobs, investing in capital and maintaining fiscal discipline.
During the Rajya Sabha discussion on the Union budget 2024-25 and the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the minister also emphasised that the budget endorses steadfast support for cooperative federalism.
"I would like to underline our unflinching commitment to cooperative federalism. The total resources proposed to be transferred to the states in 2024-25 is estimated at Rs 22.91 lakh crore. This actually entails an increase of Rs 2.49 lakh crore over 2023-24," the minister said.
With reference to the general budget, she said the capital expenditure in the last 10 years of the Narendra Modi government stood at Rs 43.82 lakh crore, in comparison to Rs 13.19 lakh crore during the decade-ago rule of UPA.
Sitharaman also said the production-linked incentive schemes continue to remain attractive for the manufacturing sector. The budget is an exercise to make India an attractive destination for manufacturing companies, she added.
She also said the government is complying with the fiscal deficit trajectory. It will bring down the deficit to below 4.5% by 2025-26 from the targeted 4.9% for the current fiscal.
The finance minister highlighted that for agriculture and allied sectors, the budget has allocated Rs 1.52 lakh crore, which is Rs 8,000 crore more than the previous year.
For comparison, in 2013-14, the last year of Congress-led UPA, only Rs 30,000 crore was allocated for agriculture.
She emphasised that the financial position of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir has improved. Sitharaman said J&K Bank has made a turnaround and posted profit.
(With Inputs From PTI)
