Budget 2024: This Interim Budget Is A Road Map To Developed India By 2047, Says India Inc

Former FICCI President, Subhrakant Panda, welcomed the Budget and said that it laid out the future trajectory of the government in clear terms

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Interim Budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year on Thursday. While being of an interim nature, the Budget did reveal some policy revisions and project announcements. Among the major changes, the FM said that the government set its fiscal deficit target for FY25 at 5.1 per cent of the GDP. Further, the Budget also focused on pushing schemes in the agriculture sector to benefit fisheries, and dairy farmers, and attract investments from the public and private sectors. While there were no changes announced in the tax structure, the FM announced that certain outstanding direct tax demands would be withdrawn. 

Commenting on the Budget, Naina Lal Kidwai, former FICCI President, said, “Any government would be attracted to spending money on subsidies and schemes in an election year. This government has rather announced that it will ensure that we can achieve a fiscal deficit of 5.1 percent,” reported PTI. Kidwai, however, added, that it remained unclear how the government intends to achieve the fiscal deficit and maintain good revenue levels, as there was no ‘scaling back’ on capital expenditure in the financial document. 

Former FICCI President, Subhrakant Panda, welcomed the Budget and said that it laid out the future trajectory of the government in clear terms. “There is a strong focus on reforms at the state level for Viksit Bharat with a Rs 75000-crore outlay linked to milestone-based reforms. What stood out for me was the clear articulation that the focus groups which the government is working on for upliftment and development are the poor, the women, the youth, and the farmers. There is a clear emphasis on green growth and inclusive growth,” he added. 

Reacting to the Budget, Ashish Chauhan, CEO, the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) termed it a ‘10/10 Budget’. He added that the Budget focused on the winning formula of prioritising fiscal refrain with welfare and growth. “Welfarism was not expected from this government in 2014. But it shows in the way they (central government) have built social security frameworks, from providing vaccines, schooling, food, and pension schemes to insurance benefits,” he added. 

Ajay Singh, President, Assocham, and Chairman and MD, SpiceJet, also termed the Budget a positive one. “The government is following a road map towards a developed India by 2047. I think all the steps that are being taken are towards the larger objective,” he said. 

Pathik Patwari, President, Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also lauded the government for the Budget and said that they managed to give equal importance to all sectors and prepared the Budget ‘for making India developed by 2047’. ITC MD, Sanjiv Puri, noted that the Budget will help the government continue to follow the path of sustainable, inclusive, and competitive growth. 

Reactions On Green Energy And Infrastructure Changes

Vinod Sharma, Chairman, CII National Committee on ICTE, and MD, Deki Electronics, said that the electronics industry is looking forward to the announcements made regarding rooftop solarisation, EVs, and agricultural productivity. “What enthuses me is the announcements regarding rooftop solar, regarding electric vehicles, and what improvements we want to do in agricultural productivity - all of these will require a lot of electronics. We hope that these electronics will be made in India, designed in India,” the executive added, reported ANI.

Notably, the Budget announced a scheme for rooftop solarisation, that will allow one crore households to obtain up to 300 units of free electricity every month. The Finance Minister also revealed that the govt intends to expand the electric vehicle ecosystem, with an emphasis on manufacturing and charging infrastructure. Further, the govt will also work to increase the adoption of electric buses in public transportation as part of a push towards green mobility. 

The government said that it will launch a housing scheme for the middle class and also increased the capex outlay for infrastructure by 11.1% to Rs 11,11,111 crore, coming up around 3.4 per cent of the GDP. Reacting to the infrastructure push, Pradeep Kumar Aggarwal, Founder and Chairman, Signature Global (India) Limited, said, “The announcements are wonderful...The biggest thing is that there was a lot of focus on infrastructure...Focus has been given on the bottom of the pyramid - especially the section which was not addressed earlier...This is a balanced budget. They did the best they could. So, quite hopeful that we will hear more announcements in the time to come.”

Srivats Ram, VC, CII Tamil Nadu State Council, and MD, Wheels India Ltd, however, refrained from sharing any immediate reactions to the Budget. He said, “The government has spent a lot of funds towards CapEx on infrastructure projects in the last two budgets...Taxation has not been touched at all...She has also spoken about Viksit Bharat 2047. She has mentioned that in the July budget, there will be a detailed plan related to that. So, we'll have to wait and see that plan before we make a further comment.”