New Delhi: On Tuesday, New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharamn presented the BJP-Led NDA 3.0 government’s Union Budget 2024-202 in Parliament. Reactions have started to pour in from various quarters. While BJP and its allies hailed the Budget, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling it “holistic and all-inclusive” and asserting that it will pave the path for “Viksit Bharat”, the Opposition parties termed it as a policy marked by political compulsions. Generally, experts and industry chambers have lauded the budget.
Medical Industry: Union Budget-2024 will give a boost to overall economic growth
The Union Budget-2024 is visionary and progressive and will help boost the country’s overall economic growth, said the Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD) on Tuesday.
The Union Budget-2024, presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament, “reflects the determination of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to realise the goal of a $10 trillion economy by 2030 and Viksit Bharat by 2047”, said Rajiv Nath, AiMeD Forum Coordinator, in a statement.
Nath also thanked the government for “the reduction in duty on the import of components of X-ray equipment until these get to be produced in India”.
He explained that “the imports of medical devices have consistently been over Rs 61,000 crore for the last three years and regretfully increased by 13 percent this year to Rs 69,000 crore”.
He said that the relief from the government is “appreciable” as the two critical components lack domestic manufacturers.
“Removal of nil duty exemption on some of these medical devices would have acted as a further enabler for Make in India drive and enhance our global competitiveness,” Nath said.
Experts hail Rs 1.48 lakh cr Budget allocation for education, employment & skilling
Experts hailed the Rs 1.48 lakh crore allocation for education, employment, and skilling in the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament on Tuesday.
“The 2024 budget sounds positive and forward-looking, focusing on job creation, education, skill development, and building a more inclusive workforce,” said Neeti Sharma, CEO, TeamLease Digital.
“The provision of Rs 1.48 lakh crore made to support education, employment, and skilling demonstrates a robust commitment to workforce development. Schemes enabling industries to create new jobs, financial support for higher education loans, ITI upgrades, and internship schemes will all enable a higher-skilled and employable workforce,” she added.
Sharma said the proposed initiatives will bolster industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, and MSMEs.
Welcoming the Budget as a “positive development,” Anuraag Saxena, CEO, E-Gaming Federation said that jobs are the “primary driver of economic growth, and putting new initiatives and allocations into practice would not only improve the employment situation.”
He added that the budget will “also have a significant impact on developing a trained labour force for all industries, including online skill gaming.”
“The urgency around skilling requirements has been rightly reflected through announcements related to skilling loans, interest subvention on higher education loans, and incentives to corporates for providing internship opportunities,” said Ranen Banerjee – Partner and Leader of Economic Advisory, PwC India.
The Finance Minister said that the government will provide financial support of up to Rs 10 lakh for higher education in domestic institutions.
The government will also launch a scheme to provide one crore youth with internship opportunities in 500 top companies. The scheme will provide an internship allowance of Rs 5,000 per month and one-time assistance of Rs 6,000. Over five years, about 20 lakh youth will be skilled.
FM Sitharaman announced a Rs two lakh-crore PM package of five schemes to facilitate employment and skilling.
Top industry chambers laud fiscal consolidation, tax reforms, job creation
Leading industry chambers on Tuesday lauded the Union Budget 2024-2025, saying it is a people-centric budget which balances equitable growth with fiscal sustainability.
Sanjay Nayar, President of Assocham, said that without easy giveaways, the budget focuses on a longer, more sustainable path of job creation through manufacturing in the country and a strengthened role of MSMEs.
“Skilling the youth, formalising job creation, continued infrastructure spending, and urban development, along with the climate of enhanced local capex spending, will encourage the private sector to join in, given under levered balance sheets. This is a longer, more sure way to enhance employment and sustainable consumption,” he contended.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has fixed the fiscal deficit at 4.9 per cent of GDP despite higher allocations for social welfare schemes due to robust tax collections in a fast-growing economy.
According to Sanjiv Puri, CII President, the new government’s maiden budget has unravelled a comprehensive roadmap for sustainable and equitable growth while retaining the focus on job creation.
“The nine key priorities unveiled in the Budget for ‘Viksit Bharat’ provides an all-encompassing blueprint for an inclusive, resilient, prosperous, environmentally sustainable and technologically advanced India, which would be a crucial milestone in our journey for a developed India by 2047,” Puri noted.
The budget’s pivot on employment, skilling, MSMEs, and the middle class, along with focused measures on agriculture, urban development, and incentivising states to carry out ‘NextGen’ reforms, would contribute significantly to empowering people and making growth inclusive while providing an impetus to consumption and growth.
“In doing so, the Finance Minister deserves credit for displaying astute financial management by bettering the fiscal deficit target at better than expected 4.9 per cent of GDP for the current fiscal while retaining the focus on capital expenditure which is no mean achievement considering the daunting external milieu and its impact on India,” Puri said.
Joyshree Das Verma, National President of FICCI FLO, said the budget marks a significant stride towards enhancing women’s role in India’s economic development.
“The allocation of more than Rs 3 lakh crore for women-specific schemes and skilling programmes underscore the government’s commitment to women-led development and enhancing economic inclusivity,” she said.
Congress Party: Save the Government Budget
The main opposition in Parliament, the Congress Party, took a dig at the Centre over Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget announcements for 2024-25, calling them nothing but a “Sarkar Bachao” Budget driven by political compulsions for the survival of this “lame duck” government.
Niramala Sitharaman announced a hike in the new tax regime’s standard deduction from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000, revisions to tax slabs, a cut in Customs duty on gold and silver, three schemes under employment-linked incentives, and Rs 2 lakh crore for job creation during her 80-minute Budget speech in the Parliament on Tuesday.
Claiming that the Budget will not address inflation or solve the farmers’ crisis, Congress leader K.C. Venugopal on X remarked, “It has absolutely nothing for the middle classes. Much like the 10 (previous) Budgets, this Union Budget is also far removed from the concerns of the ordinary Indian.
“While the government has belatedly recognised that job creation is the need of the hour, its so-called announcements are totally insincere and non-serious. They could not even properly copy from our Nyay Patra.”
According to Venugopal, merely quoting large headline numbers while offering pittances is, in reality, a cruel joke on the future of India’s youth.
“Every segment of the Indian society is going to be in an even worse situation after this Budget, and this government that is completely cut off from the pain of the people will simply be concerned about its survival,” he said.
Another senior Congressman and former Union Finance Minister, P.C. Chidambaram, said he is glad to see that Nirmala Sitharaman has read the Congress manifesto for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“I am glad to know that the Hon’ble FM has read the Congress Manifesto for LS 2024 after the election results,” Chidambaram said in a post on X.
The Congress leader also said he is happy that the Finance Minister has virtually adopted the employment-linked incentive (ELI), which he claimed was outlined on page 30 of the Congress manifesto.
“I am also happy that she has introduced the apprenticeship scheme along with an allowance to every apprentice which was spelt out on page 11 of the Congress manifesto,” the former Finance Minister said.
Rashtriya Janata Dal: This Budget is only for the corporate sector
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) criticised the central government over the Budget, saying that allocating Rs 26 000 crore to Bihar is not for the common people but for the corporate sector.
“This budget is only for the corporate sector. The Finance Minister has no idea how the Centre would create jobs for unemployed youth. She has not addressed the issues of youth, farmers, women, and labourers in her budget speech,” said Bhai Virendra, the four-time RJD MLA from the Maner assembly constituency.
Bhai Virendra said that previous governments have also announced similar projects. “Bihar needs special category status, which the Central government has denied,” he said.
Former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi said the Central government has given Jhunjhuna (toy) to Bihar.
“This budget has nothing for the common people of Bihar,” the former Chief Minister said.
–IANS
