'Budget Aimed At Aspirational India'

NEW DELIH: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that the first budget in the ‘Amrit Kaal of India’ (Golden Era) has established a strong base to fulfill the aspirations and resolutions of a developed India. He said that this budget gives priority to the deprived and strives to fulfill the dreams of the aspirational society, the poor, villages and the middle class.

He congratulated the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her team for a historic Budget. The Prime Minister termed the traditional artisans like carpenters, lohar (ironsmiths) Sunar (goldsmiths), Kumhars (potters), sculptors and many others as the creator of the nation.

“For the first time, the country has come up with many schemes as a tribute to the hard work and creation of these people. Arrangements have been made for training, credit and market support for them. PM Vishwakarma Kaushal Samman i.e. PM ViKaS will bring a big change in the lives of crores of Vishwakarmas” the

Prime Minister said.

From women living in the cities to villages, employed to homemakers, the Prime Minister said = the government has taken significant steps such as Jal Jeevan Mission, Ujjwala Yojna and PM Awas Yojana etc. that will further empower the welfare of women. He emphasized that miracles can be performed if Women Self Help Groups, which is a sector with extreme potential, is further strengthened. Underlining that a new dimension has been added to Women Self Help Groups in the new budget with the introduction of a new special savings scheme for women, the Prime Minister said that it will strengthen women especially the homemaker from common families.

This Budget, the Prime Minister said, will make cooperatives a fulcrum of the development of the rural economy. The government, he continued, has made the world's largest food storage scheme in the co-operative sector. An ambitious scheme to form new primary co-operatives has also been announced in the budget. This will expand the area of milk and fish production along with farming, farmers, animal husbandry and fishermen will get better prices for their produce.

Emphasizing the need to replicate the success of digital payments in the agriculture sector, the Prime Minister said that this budget comes with a big plan for digital agriculture infrastructure.

He informed that the world is celebrating the International Year of Millets and noted that there are many types of millets in India with multiple names. The Prime Minister said that special recognition of millets is necessary when it is reaching households all over the world. “This superfood has been given a new identity of Shree-Anna.”, the Prime Minister said as he underlined that small farmers and tribal farmers of the country will get economic support along with a healthy life for the citizens of the country.

This budget, Modi continued, will give an unprecedented expansion to Green Growth, Green Economy, Green Infrastructure, and Green Jobs for a Sustainable Future. “In the budget, we have laid a lot of emphasis on technology and the new economy. Aspirational India of today wants modern infrastructure in every field like road, rail, metro, port, and waterways. Compared to 2014, investment in infrastructure has increased by more than 400 percent”, the Prime Minister said as he underlined the unprecedented investment of ten lakh crores on infrastructure that will give new energy and speed to India's development. He informed that these investments will create new employment opportunities for the youth, thereby providing new income opportunities to a large population.

Modi also touched upon the Ease of Doing Business which is taken forward through the campaign of credit support and reforms for industries. “An additional loan guarantee of Rs 2 lakh crore has been arranged for MSMEs”, the Prime Minister informed as he noted that increasing the limit of presumptive tax will help MSMEs to grow. He also added that a new arrangement has been made for timely payments by big companies to MSMEs.

The Prime Minister underlined the potential of the middle class in realizing the dreams of 2047. The Prime Minister informed that in order to empower the middle class, the government has taken many significant decisions in the past years that have ensured Ease of Living. He highlighted the reduction in tax rates as well as the simplification, transparency and speeding up of the processes. “Our government that always stood with the middle class has given huge tax relief to them”, the Prime Minister said.

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The Union Budget allocated Rs 5.94 lakh crore for the defence sector, marking a hike of 13 per cent over previous year's layout of Rs 5.25 lakh crore.

The Union Budget 2023-24 envisaged a total outlay of Rs 45,03,097 crore. Of this, the Ministry of Defence has been allocated a total budget of Rs 5,93,537.64 crore, which is 13.18 per cent of the total Budget.

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Having failed to meet the disinvestment target of Rs 65,000 crore for the current fiscal, the government scaled down the target for 2023-24 to Rs 51,000 crore. For 2023-24, the budget has pegged disinvestment revenue at Rs 51,000 crore.

In addition to this, around Rs 10,000 crore is expected to come from monetisation of government assets in the current year and well as in 2023-24. The current financial year (2022-23) is the fourth year in a row that the government has missed the disinvestment target. The government has managed to collect only Rs 31,100 crore through minority stake sale in state-owned PSUs, out of the Rs 65,000 crore disinvestment target for this fiscal.

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Aiming to discourage cheap imports from China and encourage domestic manufacturing, Customs duty on imitation jewellery has been enhanced from 20 per cent to 25 per cent in the Union Budget.

The Department of Commerce's recommendation on labgrown diamond (LGD) has been accepted whereby a research grant of Rs 242 crore over a period of five years to IIT Madras has been approved. This will enable indigenisation of the manufacturing process of LGD.

Further, reduction of duty on LGD seeds from 5 per cent to 'nil' has also been accepted which will result in reducing the cost of production of LGD growers and make our LGD exports globally competitive. The recommendation of the Department of Commerce for creating separate HS codes for LGD has also been accepted. It would enable tracking the international trade in labgrown diamonds.

Customs duty on articles of precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum has been increased from 20 per cent to 25 per cent, thereby increasing the duty differential to 10 per cent over gold/silver/platinum bars. .

The reduction in import duty on fish meal from 15 per cent to 5 per cent will make the shrimp industry more competitive in the country and boost exports. Fish meal constitutes 40 per cent of the cost of production of shrimps.

The recommendation for increase in import duty on compound rubber from 10 per cent to 25 per cent has also been agreed to.

The Budget has identified the financial sector as a priority sector. Measures to enhance business activities in GIFT IFSC, comprehensive review of existing financial sector regulations and support for digital payments will promote India's financial services exports in the long run.