Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Interim Budget 2024 on Thursday, February 1, 2024 with a focus on promoting inclusivity and sustainability.
Providing you the key highlights of the budget that are aimed at creating opportunities and improving productivity across the nation:
- Rooftop Solarization: Aiming to empower 1 crore households, the rooftop solarization initiative will enable them to receive up to 300 units of free electricity every month, resulting in monthly savings ranging from Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 20,000.
- Cervical Cancer Vaccination: The government will promote vaccination for girls aged 9 to 14 years to prevent cervical cancer.
- Ayushman Bharat: The healthcare coverage under the Ayushman Bharat scheme will now include all ASHA workers, Anganwadi Workers, and Helpers.
- Innovation and Tech: FM mentioned the importance of innovation in the development of the nation and referred this to be a ‘Golden Era’ for tech-savvy youth. Additionally, she further stated that a new scheme will be launched for strengthening deep-tech technologies for defense purposes and expediting ‘Atmanirbharta’.
- Medical Colleges: Utilizing existing hospital infrastructure, the government plans to establish additional medical colleges.
- ‘Lakhpati Didi’ scheme: The target for the ‘Lakhpati Didi’ scheme has been increased to benefit 3 crore women, up from the original goal of 2 crore women.
- Railway: The government aims to implement 3 major economic railway corridor programs, including the energy, mineral, and cement corridors, port connectivity corridors, and high-traffic density corridors. Additionally, 40,000 bogies will be converted to Vande Bharat standard to enhance safety and convenience.
- Electric vehicles: Enhancing the e-vehicle ecosystem, the government will provide support for both manufacturing and charging infrastructure. Furthermore, robust payment security mechanisms will be implemented to facilitate the promotion of e-buses in public transportation networks.
- Green Energy: Coal gasification and liquefaction capacity of 100 MT to be set up by 2030. Further, financial assistance will be provided for the procurement of biomass aggregation machinery to support the collection.
- Tourism: FM highlights the opportunities for Entrepreneurship in Tourism with states being asked to develop and market tourist centers.
- Taxation: No changes were announced in tax rates for direct and indirect taxes, including import duties
- Tax Services: Withdrawal of direct tax demands of periods up to Rs. 25000 for periods up to 2009-10 and Rs. 10000 for periods up to 2014-15, to benefit 1 Crore people.
- FY25 capex outlay: Capital spending for 2024-25 raised by 11% to Rs. 11.11 lakh crore or 3.4% of GDP
- Corpus for long-term financing for sunrise sectors: A fund of Rs. 1 lakh crore will be established to offer 50-year loans with minimal or zero interest rates, aiming to stimulate the private sector’s engagement in research and innovation within emerging industries.
It is to be noted that, this was an interim budget with the 2024 Lok Sabha elections scheduled to take place later this year.
Kapoor Kumar & Associates (taxavk) 