Budget 2024 key highlights: Here's what Nirmala Sitharaman said in speech

Budget 2024 key highlights: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday presented the Union Budget 2024 in the Parliament. In her speech, she said the budget has nine priorities including productivity, jobs, social justice, urban development, energy security, infrastructure and reforms. The finance minister said fast-tracking the growth of the rural economy and employment opportunities will be the government's policy goal.

Here are some of the highlights of the budget speech.

• Additional debt recovery tribunals are to be set up.
• The government proposes the development of digital public infra applications for productivity gains, business opportunities and innovation by the private sector.
• The government will set up a critical Mineral Mission to acquire assets overseas.
• The government will launch the auction of the first offshore mining blocks.
• The government will facilitate dormitory-type rental housing for industrial workers in PPP mode.
• The Central government has allocated ₹11 lakh crore for capital expenditure for infrastructure development. "This would be 3.4% of our GDP...Private investment in infrastructure by the private sector will be promoted through viability gap funding and enabling policies," she said.
• Nirmala Sitharaman says the people of India have reinforced their faith in the government led by Modi and re-elected it for a third term.
• “Global economy is still in the grip of policy uncertainty.”
• “India's inflation continues to be stable and moving towards the 4 per cent target”.
• Nirmala Sitharaman said the Budget's 9 priorities include productivity, jobs, social justice, urban development, energy security, infrastructure and reforms.
• The government will provide incentives to 30 lakh youth entering the job market by providing 1 monthly PF contribution, she said. The government will set up working women hostels, she added.
• 1,000 ITIs to be upgraded in hub and spoke model, said the finance minister.
• The government will provide financial support for loans up to ₹10 lakh for higher education in domestic institutions.
• Nirmala Sitharaman said a credit guarantee scheme will be introduced for facilitating term loans to MSMEs. "The scheme will operate on the cooling of credit risks of such MSMEs. A self-financing guarantee fund will provide to each applicant cover of up to ₹100 crore while the loan amount may be larger," she said.
• “Direct Benefit Transfer of one month's salary in 3 instalments to first-time employees as registered in the EPFO will be up to ₹15,000. The eligibility limit will be a salary of ₹1 lakh per month. The scheme will benefit 210 lakh youth.”
• “The government will launch a scheme to provide internship opportunities to 1 crore youth in 500 top companies with ₹5000 per month as internship allowance and one-time assistance of ₹6000.”
• The government proposes to reduce basic customs duty on mobile phones, and chargers to 15
• Customs duty on gold and silver to be reduced to 6%, and platinum to 6.4%.
• The government has revised the income tax standard deduction for those who opted for the new tax regime. "For those opting for the new tax regime, the standard deduction for salaried employees to be increased from ₹50,000 to ₹75,000," she said.
• The finance minister revised the tax slabs for those who opted for the new regime. “Under the new tax regime, tax rate structure to be revised as follows - ₹0- ₹3 lakh -Nil; ₹3-7 lakh -5%; ₹7-10 lakh-10%; ₹10-12 lakh-15%; 12-15 lakh- 20% and above ₹15 lakh-30%," she announced.

Nirmala Sitharaman said salaried employees under the new tax regime will save up to ₹17,500 annually in taxes due to changes proposed in the Budget.

Nirmala Sitharaman said the deduction on family pension for pensioners will be enhanced from ₹15,000 to ₹25,000. In total, 4 crore salaried individuals and pensioners stand to benefit from the changes.

In the Budget speech, Nirmala Sitharaman also announced sops for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, the home states of BJP allies Nitish Kumar and N Chandrababu Naidu. The two leaders have been demanding a special status for their respective states.

"Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act- Our govt has made efforts to fulfil the commitments in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. Recognising the state's need for capital, we will facilitate special financial support through multilateral agencies. In the current FY, ₹15,000 crore will be arranged with additional amounts in future years," she said.

"On the Amritsar-Kolkata industrial corridor, we will support the development of an industrial nod at Gaya in Bihar. It will catalyse the development of the easter region. We will also support the development of road connectivity projects- Patna -Purnea expressway, Buxar- Bhagalpur highway, Bodhgaya- Rajgir-Vaishali- Darbhanga and an additional two-lane bridge over river Ganga in Buxar for ₹26,000 crores," she added.

This is her seventh consecutive budget speech. With this, she has surpassed late Morarji Desai's record of presenting the budget six times consecutively. This is the Modi government 3.0's first budget. All eyes are on Nirmala Sitharaman's possible announcements on income tax, ease of doing business and railway infrastructure.

Nirmala Sitharaman will also present the estimated receipts and expenditure of the Central government for the year 2024-2025 in the Rajya Sabha today. On February 1, the Central government tabled the interim budget that took care of the financial needs of the country ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

On Monday, Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Economic Survey, which reviewed the state of the economy and the projections of economic indicators.

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Per the Economic Survey, the country is expected to grow at a rate of 6.5-7 per cent in the current financial year. This is lower than the 8.2 per cent growth seen in the previous 2023-24 (April 2023 to March 2024) fiscal and below RBI's 7.2 per cent estimate for the current financial year.

The Economic Survey also lauded the government's policy measures to stem retail inflation. The inflation was 5.4 per cent, the lowest since the pandemic hit Indian shores.

Also read: Economic Survey calls global climate change strategies ‘flawed’: 30 top points

The document also recommended boosting exports.

India can either integrate into China's supply chain or promote foreign direct investment from China, it added.

"Among these choices, focusing on FDI from China seems more promising for boosting India's exports to the US, similar to how East Asian economies did in the past," it added.