Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said that the first Union Budget of the third Modi government will be based on his mantra of “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas”. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the full budget for 2024-25 today (Tuesday).
Chaudhary was among the first from FM Nirmala Sitharaman’s team to reach the North Block offices of the Finance Ministry ahead of the Budget Presentation. Vivek Joshi, Secretary, of the Department of Financial Services and Chief Economic Advisor V. Anantha Nageswaran have also reached the ministry ahead of FM Sitharaman.
Minister Sitharaman is set to present the Union Budget 2024 in Parliament today, marking her seventh consecutive budget and eclipsing the late Moraji Desai’s record of six consecutive budgets, which is likely to focus on changes in the income tax structure and improving the ease of doing business in India. Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey 2023-24 along with the statistical appendix on Monday.
Sitharaman will lay on the table a statement of the estimated receipts and expenditures of the government for the year 2024-25 in the Rajya Sabha. She will table the budget one hour after the conclusion of the presentation of the Union Budget 2024-25 in the Lok Sabha.
The Finance Minister also lay on the table, under subsection (1) of Section 3 of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003, a copy each (in English and Hindi) of the following papers: medium-term fiscal policy strategy statement and macro-economic framework statement. The Finance Minister will further lay on the table statements (in English and Hindi) of the estimated receipts and expenditures (2024-25) of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir (with the legislature).
With this upcoming budget presentation, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will surpass the record set by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, who presented five annual budgets and one interim budget between 1959 and 1964 as finance minister. The budget session of Parliament began on July 22 and, according to schedule, will end on August 12.
On Monday, the Economic Survey tabled in Parliament conservatively projected India’s real GDP growth of 6.5-7 per cent, cognizant of the fact that market expectations are on the higher side. Real GDP growth is the reported economic growth minus inflation.
India’s real GDP grew by 8.2 per cent in 2023-24, exceeding the 8 per cent mark in three out of four quarters. According to official data of the Indian government, the country’s GDP grew at an impressive 8.2 per cent during the financial year 2023-24. India’s economy grew 7.2 per cent in 2022-23 and 8.7 per cent in 2021-22 respectively. (ANI)
