We will oversee implementation of Budget, assures Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman on Tuesday said that the Centre is determined to see the implementation of the Union Budget, which was presented on February 1, in the country.

"We will be spending a lot of time looking at the implementation of the Budget. I assure you we will be on our toes," Sitharaman said at an event of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here.

She further said that the provisions in the Union Budget will provide encouragement to 'Make in India'.

"If we have raised duties it is not with the sense of protectionism. If there are medical devices being made in India, we want to give encouragement under Make in India, at least for those, we do not want imports flooding the market," Sitharaman said.

"There is no shift from 'Make in India'. I have seen this concern that is it going to be 'assemble in India' and forget 'Make in India'. 'Assemble in India' has a purpose. We are using this also as a capacity building measure for India," she further added, stressing that this would come in handy for the country in the long run.

Speaking about the Budget presentation, which at close to 2 hours 40 minutes of speech was the longest ever, the Finance Minister added, "Not only was my budget speech long, this budget also had the longest ever preparations behind it. I had started preparations for it after my first budget presentation in July (2019).