Page 9 - Union Budgets

Interim Budget: Gross market borrowing music to ears of bond market

In the current year, the gross market borrowings are estimated at Rs 15.4 trillion, and the net borrowing at Rs 11.8 trillion - the highest-ever government borrowing programme

Interim Budget: Govt remains steady in its course and its objectives

Another critical point that is not really addressed in the Interim Budget of the finance minister is the fact that private investment is not moving up broadly and fast enough

Decadal perspective of the Modi government: Turn of the business cycle

Three major economic corridors for port connectivity, high traffic density, and an energy, mineral and cement corridor project

Decadal perspective: Stock market has more than doubled under the Modi govt

Negotiation of bilateral investment treaties with other countries may help bring more foreign direct investment into India

Interim Budget: Disinvestment, monetisation target set at Rs 50,000 crore

Current goal pared down to Rs 30,000 cr

Interim Budget: Share of capex allocation jumps to 30-year high in FY25

The headline figure of Rs 11.1 trn is 11.1% higher than FY24, says Finance Minister

Interim Budget 2024-25: FMCG companies laud Centre's economic nudge

Expect employment opportunities to drive consumption

Budget 2024: Sitharaman bats for developing iconic tourist destinations

The finance minister announced that long-term interest-free loans will be provided to states for financing the development of iconic tourist centres

Govt extends animal husbandry infra fund worth Rs 29,610 cr till 2025-26

The Union Cabinet on Thursday extended the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) till 2025-26. In June 2020, the government had approved setting up of AHIDF worth Rs 15,000 crore. According to an official statement on Thursday, the Cabinet approved the "continuation of Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) to be implemented under Infrastructure Development Fund (IDF) with an outlay of Rs 29,610.25 crore for another three years up to 2025-26." The scheme will incentivize investments for dairy processing and product diversification, meat processing and product diversification, animal feed plant, breed multiplication farm, animal waste to wealth management (Agri-waste management) and veterinary vaccine and drug production facilities. "Government of India will provide 3 per cent interest subvention for 8 years including two years of moratorium for loan up to 90 per cent from the scheduled bank and National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC)

Interim Budget 2024-25: 'Staying with capex, infrastructure thrust'

The Interim Budget provides a good roadmap to the full Budget expected in July, along with an overarching vision towards a developed India by 2047

Bond yields soften 8 bps after lower-than-expected fiscal deficit target

Fiscal deficit target lower than expected; room for RBI to cut rate

Interim Budget 2024-25: 'Commitment to fiscal prudence and growth'

India has emerged as one of the most preferred destinations for global investors

Interim Budget: Rs 2,502 cr allocated to law ministry, Rs 385 cr to EC

The Election Commission has been granted Rs 385.67 crore for conducting elections this fiscal, according to documents provided after the presentation of the interim budget on Thursday. Lok Sabha elections are due this summer and could be announced sometime in March. The Law Ministry ministry has been provided Rs 2,502.30 crore this fiscal and Rs 34.84 crore in 2024-25 for procurement of electronic voting machines (EVMs) for the poll panel. The sum is meant for providing funds to the Election Commission for procurement of Ballot Units, Control Units and Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) Units by the Election Commission and ancillary expenditure on EVMs and destruction of obsolete EVMs. One control unit, at least one ballot unit and one VVPAT unit make up for one EVM. An expert committee oversees the destruction of old EVMs. An EVM has an average shelf life of 15 years. The poll authority has also been provided Rs 306.06 crore for elections under budget 2024-25. The legis

Interim Budget 2024: 'A transformative yet prudent financial statement'

Overall, the government has presented a forward-looking Budget with enough assurances to trust it to lay down the roadmap through the full Budget and sticking to GDP

Interim Budget: Apparel industry will surely benefit, says Sunil Sethi

We hope this Budget will act as a catalyst to impact Indian craftsmanship and design by holding expositions, as was done at 60 locations during G20

Interim Budget: Allocation for tribal ministry up by 70% at Rs 13,000 cr

The government has allocated Rs 13,000 crore to the Tribal Affairs Ministry in the interim Budget 2024-25, a massive increase of 70 per cent from the allotment in the previous financial year. The tribal ministry was allocated Rs 7,605 crore in the financial year 2023-24. The Centre has earmarked Rs 6,399 crore for the construction of Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) in 2024-25, a 150 per cent increase over Rs 2,471.81 crore allocated for this purpose in 2023-24. The objective of EMRS is to provide quality middle and high-level education to tribal students in remote areas, enabling them to access reservation in high and professional educational courses and jobs in government, public, and private sectors, as well as having access to the best opportunities in education at par with the non-ST population. The allocation for the Pradhan Mantri Adi Adarsh Gram Yojana has been increased from Rs 300 crore to Rs 1,000 crore. Under the scheme, funds are provided to states or UTs havi

Interim Budget: Continuity of policies strongest feature, says Ajay Bijli

Inclusive development through direct benefit transfers, empowering the youth, women empowerment, focusing on health and housing for all

Interim Budget: The focus on women is the best thing, says Sanjeev Kapoor

Youth, poor, farmers, all include women, and incentives to all these groups only highlights the focus on women with schemes such as Lakhpati Didis

Tech corpus positive, hope for full telcos' wishlist consideration: COAI

The long-term, interest-free or low interest rate loans and focus on deep tech will further encourage the private sector to scale up research and innovation, according to COAI

Net-zero goal: Interim budget focuses on green economy, climate investments

In an effort to achieve net-zero carbon emissions, India will solarise rooftops of one crore households and provide viability gap funding for harnessing offshore wind energy potential with an initial capacity of one gigawatt, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday. Presenting the interim budget for 2024-25, she also said that the government will mandate the phased blending of compressed biogas (CBG) in compressed natural gas (CNG) for transport and natural gas (PNG) for domestic purposes. The finance minister emphasised that the government would enable one crore households to obtain up to 300 units of free electricity every month through the rooftop solar programme. This will result in savings of up to Rs 18,000 annually for households from free solar electricity and selling the surplus to distribution companies, Sitharaman said. According to an analysis by the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW), 20-25 gigawatts of rooftop solar capacity could be support