NEW DELHI: Financed Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday presented the Union Budget during the ongoing Monsoon session of the Parliament.
“India’s economic growth continues to be the shining exception and will remain so in the years ahead,” said the FM in her budget speech.
The union minister highlighted the government’s focus on productivity and resilience in agriculture, employment and skilling, inclusive HRD and social justice, manufacturing and services, urban development, energy security, infra, innovation and R&D; and next-generation reforms.
“In this budget, we focus on employment, skilling, MSME, middle class,” said the Finance Minister.
The government has retained Rs 11.11 lakh crore for capital expenditure for the financial year 2025, which amounts to 3.4 percent of India’s GDP.
The union minister made two announcements under the new tax regime. “First, the standard deduction for salaried employees is proposed to be increased from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000. Similarly, deduction on family pension for pensioners is proposed to be enhanced from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000. This will provide relief to about four crore salaried individuals and pensioners.”
The budget proposed an allocation of Rs 2.2 lakh crore for urban housing, along with Rs 10 lakh crore interest subsidy scheme under the flagship Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) scheme.
“Under PM Awas Yojana Urban 2.0, housing needs of 1 crore urban poor and middle-class families will be addressed with an investment of Rs 10 lakh crore,” Sitharaman said.
The Finance Minister stated that the Indian mobile industry has matured and proposed to reduce the Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on mobile phones, mobile PCDA (Printed Circuit Design Assembly), and mobile charges to 15 percent.
She said the budget proposes to reduce Customs duty on gold and silver to 6 percent and platinum to 6.4 percent. The Basic Customs Duty will be increased from 10 percent to 15 percent on printed circuit board assemblies on specific telecom equipment, Sitharaman said.
She added that customs duty on three more medicines will be fully removed to provide relief to cancer patients.
The finance minister also introduced a PM Package with five schemes aimed at boosting employment and skilling, with an allocation of Rs 2 lakh crore.
In the budget, Rs1.48 lakh crore is earmarked for education, employment, and skilling.
Rs 3 lakh crore has been allocated for schemes benefiting women and girls, which includes setting up hostels and creating women-specific skilling programs.
Rs 1.52 lakh crore has been allocated to agriculture and allied sectors to improve productivity and develop climate-resilient varieties.
The budget allocated Rs 2.66 lakh crore for rural development initiatives. An additional Rs 26,000 crore has been allocated to road connectivity projects.
The government will partner with the private sector for setting up Bharat small reactors, research and development of Bharat small modular reactors & research and development of newer technologies for nuclear energy, said FM.
She also stated that there will be a continued emphasis on expanding the space economy by five times over the next 10 years and to support this goal, a venture capital fund of Rs 1,000 crore will be established.
