New Delhi, Feb 1: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday began her Interim Budget speech.
This will be her sixth Budget as the Finance Minister and last in the second term of the Modi government.
The interim budget will take care of the financial needs of the intervening period until a government is formed after the Lok Sabha polls. A full budget will be presented by the new government.
Positive transformation
Structural reforms, pro-people programme & employment opportunities helped economy get new vigour.
People of India looking ahead to future with hope and options.
Indian economy witnessed profound positive transformation in last 10 years, says FM Sitharaman.
Cabinet clears pre-election Budget 2024-25
The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday approved the pre-election budget 2024-25.. Following this, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her sixth budget in the Lok Sabha. She will equal the record of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai.
Sitharaman, the first full-time woman finance minister of the country, has presented five full budgets since July 2019 and will present an interim or vote-on-account budget on Thursday.
With this, she will surpass the records of her predecessors like Manmohan Singh, Arun Jaitley, P Chidambaram, and Yashwant Sinha, who had presented five budgets in a row.
Desai, as finance minister, had presented five annual budgets and one interim budget between 1959 and 1964
Budget for world's fastest growing economy
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be presenting the pre-election Budget which would list out achievements of the Modi government in the past 10 years, while giving a glimpse of the future plans to make India a developed nation by 2047.
Sitharaman to present sixth Budget in a row ahead of General Election
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her pre-election Budget, which technically is a vote on account and popularly termed an interim Budget, will seek Parliament's nod for a grant in advance to meet the central government's essential expenditure for the first four months of the new fiscal year that starts in April.
A new government elected after the April/May General Election will present the full Budget, likely in July.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi government's last Budget before the General Election is widely expected to contain a mix of measures for the economy and electorally significant segments like farmers and women.
Peppered with political innuendos, it may be a political document with a snapshot of the Modi government's triumphs over the last 10 years and pointers to how it wants to take the country forward.
With pressure for populist measures off after recent emphatic wins in three states, including Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, Sitharaman is expected to stick to being fiscally prudent while sprinkling sops for sectors like agriculture and engines of the economy that would create jobs and boost consumption.
While convention dictates that no major policy announcements are made in the interim Budget, it however, presents an occasion for spectacle just weeks ahead of the Model Code of Conduct coming into force for the General Election.
Markets turn highly volatile after firm opening ahead of Budget
Benchmark equity indices began the trade on an optimistic note on Thursday but later faced heavy volatile trends ahead of presentation of interim Budget.
The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 248.4 points to 72,000.51 in early trade after beginning the day on a positive note. The Nifty went up by 62.65 points to 21,788.35.
Later, both the benchmark indices hit choppy waters and were trading between highs and lows. Among the Sensex firms, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti, Power Grid, NTPC, IndusInd Bank and Sun Pharma were the biggest gainers.
Larsen & Toubro, Titan, Bajaj Finserv and JSW Steel were the major laggards.
Goods and Services Tax collections jumped 10.4 per cent to over Rs 1.72 lakh crore in January, reflecting buoyant economic activity and setting the stage for the next phase of GST reforms.
State of the Economy
The Indian economy is projected to grow close to 7 per cent in the financial year 2024-25 which starts this April, said the Ministry of Finance in a review report.
The strength of domestic demand has driven the economy to a 7 per cent plus growth rate in the couple of years.
India's economy grew 7.2 per cent in 2022-23 and 8.7 per cent in 2021-22. The Indian economy is expected to grow 7.3 per cent in the current financial year 2023-24, remaining the fastest-growing major economy.
The robustness seen in domestic demand–private consumption and investment–traces its origins to the reforms and measures implemented by the government over the last 10 years.
Finance Minister with her team
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday posed with her digital tablet as she headed to Parliament to present the interim budget. She also posed for a picture outside the Ministry of Finance in Delhi along with her team before presenting her sixth straight budget.
Sensex positive
In the last five years, the BSE Sensex has given positive returns to investors four times on the Budget day and the benchmark rallied the most by 5 per cent on the closing trade in 2021.
Barring February 1, 2020, when the 30-share BSE benchmark ended 987.96 points or 2.42 per cent lower, the bellwether index ended in the positive territory on the Budget day in the year 2023, 2022, 2021 and 2019.
