Growth oriented and commendable Union Budget, writes Nirmalendu Kar Purakayastha

//Nirmalendu Kar Purakayastha//

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented today seventh Union Budget in a row and outnumbered all other finance ministers of past to achieve such a great honour.
Budget highlights of Income & Expenditure:
Total Receipts estimated at lakh crore ₹32.07
Net tax receipts estimated at lakh crore ₹25.83

Net market borrowings estimated at lakh crore ₹11.63

Total Expenditure estimated at lakh crore ₹48.21
Budget Deficit Fiscal deficit: 4.9 per cent of GDP.

Budget 2024 has touched very important areas of skilling, agriculture, MSME., technology, Defence, power & renewables and Tourism. It also looked at the areas where reform is required at this stage.
FM has announced hike in standard deduction and revised tax rates for salaried individuals under the new tax regime. Besides this, cut on customs duty on gold, silver, mobile phones and other goods were announced. Union Budget 2024-25 seeks to comprehensively review the direct and indirect taxes in the next six months, simplifying them, reducing tax incidence and compliance burdens and broadening the tax nets. The Budget proposes comprehensive rationalization of GST tax structure.
The budget allocates for :
– [ ] education, employment, and skilling, and announces a financial support scheme for loans up to Rs 10 lakh for higher education in domestic institutions
– [ ] Comprehensive internship scheme for one crore youth in top companies over five years
– [ ] Employment-linked incentives, including one month’s wage support for first-time employees
– [ ] schemes benefitting women and girls.

Budget announcements under PM’s package :
– [ ] Facilitate higher participation of women
– [ ] Loans with a guarantee from a government promoted Fund.
– [ ] Expected to help 25,000 students every year.
– [ ] Financial support for loans upto Rs 10 lakh for higher education in domestic institutions.
– [ ] Direct E-vouchers to 1 lakh students every year.
– [ ] Annual interest subvention of 3 per cent.
FinMin announces :
– [ ] flood assistance for Bihar, Himachal, Assam, Uttarakhand and Sikkim
– [ ] special packages for Bihar, Andhra Pradesh : Special financial support of ₹15,000 crore for Andhra Pradesh. New airports, medical facilities, and sports infrastructure for Bihar.

After the FM concluded her speech, Sensex registered the day’s low at 79,224, down 1278 points, while Nifty50 fell 435 points to 24,074 points. Which can be attributed to increase in Security Transaction Tax etc.
Abstracts of Union Budget 2024 –
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2024, focusing on the poor, women, youth, and farmers. Key highlights include Rs 2 lakh crore for job creation, Rs 10 lakh crore for urban housing, and Rs 1.52 lakh crore for agriculture .Mixed reactions for Budget 2024 : According to few analysts budget is a political one while others see it a macro- economical. Indeed it’s a Growth oriented and commendable Budget.

(Nirmalendu Kar Purakayastha is renowned Cost Accountant)