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Top highlights of the Interim Budget 2024-25

Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Interim Union Budget 2024-25 in Parliament. The key highlights of the Budget are as follows:

  • The government assisted 25 crore people out of multi-dimensional poverty in the last 10 years.
  • DBT of Rs.34 lakh crore using PM-Jan Dhan accounts led to savings of Rs.2.7 lakh crore for the Government.
  • PM-SVANidhi provided credit assistance to 78 lakh street vendors. 2.3 lakh have received credit for the third time.
  • PM-JANMAN Yojana to aid the development of particularly vulnerable tribal groups.
  • PM-Vishwakarma Yojana provides end-to-end support to artisans and craftspeople engaged in 18 trades.
  • PM-KISAN SAMMAN Yojana provided financial assistance to 11.8 crore farmers.
  • Under PM Fasal BimaYojana, crop insurance is given to four crore farmers.
  • Electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) integrated 1361 mandis, providing services to 1.8 crore farmers with a trading volume of Rs.3 lakh crore.
  • 30 crore Mudra Yojana loans given to women entrepreneurs.
  • Female enrolment in higher education has gone up by 28 per cent.
  • In STEM courses, girls and women constitute 43 per cent of enrolment, one of the highest in the world.
  • Over 70 per cent of houses under PM Awas Yojana are given to women from rural areas.
  • Two crore more houses to be taken up in the next five years.
  • One crore households obtain 300 units of free electricity every month through rooftop solarization. Each household is expected to save Rs.15000 to Rs.18000 annually.
  • Healthcare coverage under the Ayushman Bharat scheme is to be extended to all ASHA workers, Anganwadi Workers and Helpers.
  • Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana has benefitted 38 lakh farmers and generated 10 lakh employment.
  • Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Yojana has assisted 2.4 lakh SHGs and 60000 individuals with credit linkages.
  • A corpus of Rs.1 lakh crore is to be established with a fifty-year interest-free loan to provide long-term financing or refinancing with long tenors and low or nil interest rates.
  • A new scheme is to be launched for strengthening deep-tech technologies for defence purposes and expediting ‘atmanirbharta’.
  • Capital expenditure outlay for Infrastructure development and employment generation is to be increased by 11.1 per cent to Rs.11,11,111 crore, which will be 3.4 per cent of the GDP.
  • Three major economic railway corridor programmes were identified under PM Gati Shakti to be implemented to improve logistics efficiency and reduce cost.
  • Forty thousand normal rail bogies are to be converted to Vande Bharat standards.
  • The number of airports in the country doubled to 149.
  • Five hundred and seventeen new routes are carrying 1.3 crore passengers.
  • Indian carriers have placed orders for over 1000 new aircraft.
  • Coal gasification and liquefaction capacity of 100 MT to be set up by 2030.
  • A phased mandatory blending of compressed biogas (CBG) in CNG for transport and PNG for domestic purposes is to be mandated.
  • States are to be encouraged to take up comprehensive development of iconic tourist centres including their branding and marketing at a global scale.
  • Framework for rating of the tourist centres based on quality of facilities and services to be established.
  • Long-term interest-free loans are to be provided to States for financing such development on a matching basis.
  • FDI inflow during 2014-23 of USD 596 billion was twice the inflow during 2005-14.
  • A provision of Rs.75,000 crore rupees as a fifty-year interest-free loan is proposed to support milestone-linked reforms by the State Governments.
  • Revised Estimates of the total receipts other than borrowings are Rs.27.56 lakh crore, of which the tax receipts are Rs.23.24 lakh crore.
  • RE of the total expenditure is Rs.44.90 lakh crore.
  • Revenue receipts at Rs.30.03 lakh crore are expected to be higher than the Budget Estimate, reflecting strong growth momentum and formalization in the economy.
  • RE of the fiscal deficit is 5.8 per cent of GDP for 2023-24.
  • Total receipts other than borrowings and the total expenditure are estimated at Rs.30.80 and Rs.47.66 lakh crore respectively.
  • Tax receipts are estimated at Rs.26.02 lakh crore.  
  • Scheme of a fifty-year interest-free loan for capital expenditure to states to be continued this year with a total outlay of Rs.1.3 lakh crore.
  • The fiscal deficit in 2024-25 is estimated to be 5.1 per cent of GDP.
  • Gross and net market borrowings through dated securities during 2024-25 are estimated at Rs.14.13 and Rs.11.75 lakh crore respectively.
  • No tax liability for income up to Rs.7 lakh, up from Rs.2.2 lakh in  FY 2013-14.
  • The presumptive taxation threshold for retail businesses increased to Rs.3 crore from Rs.2 crore.
  • The presumptive taxation threshold for professionals increased to Rs.75 lakh from Rs.50 lakh.
  • Corporate income tax decreased to 22 per cent from 30 per cent for existing domestic companies.
  • The corporate income tax rate at 15 per cent for new manufacturing companies.
  • The average processing time of tax returns has reduced to 10 days from 93 days in 2013-14.
  • Faceless Assessment and Appeal were introduced for greater efficiency.
Read in Hindi: अंतरिम बजट की ये बातें आपको जरूर जाननी चाहिए...