Budget 2024: Key Highlights

In the interim budget 2024, the Finance Minister Mrs.Nirmala Sitharaman today announced the estimates of the government’s expenditure, revenue, fiscal deficit, financial performance, and projections for the upcoming months. Both interim budget and vote on account are interchangeably used. An interim budget contains both the revenue and expenditure details for the period until the new government takes over and presents a full budget, while a vote on account includes only the government’s expenditures. The full budget is scheduled to be presented after the Lok Sabha elections by the newly elected government.

• No changes were introduced to tax slabs.
• Declared the withdrawal of all pending direct tax demands up to Rs 25,000. This strategic move is intended to alleviate the burden on taxpayers and streamline the resolution process for smaller tax disputes.
• Tax benefits for startups extended up to 31 March 2025
• The fiscal deficit target (the gap between the government’s revenue and expenses) for 2024-25 (FY25) was set at 5.1% of the gross domestic product (GDP) vis a vis the previous year’s target of 5.8% of the GDP. The target is to reduce the fiscal deficit to below 4.5% of the GDP in 2025-26 (FY26).
• The Finance Minister announced 2 crore more houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G).
• The Finance Minister announced plans to set up more medical colleges through utilisation of the “existing hospital infrastructure under various departments. “A committee for this purpose will be set up to examine the issues and make relevant recommendations,” she said.
• Healthcare cover under Ayushman Bharat will be extended to ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers, and Helpers.
• “To encourage the private sector to scale up research and innovation significantly in sunrise domains, a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore will be established with a 50-year interest-free loan provided. The corpus will provide long-term financing and re-financing with long tenures at low or nil interest rates. This will encourage the private sector to scale up research and innovation significantly in sunrise domains. “For our tech-savvy youth, this will be a golden era”. She said.
• For a boost to tourism, “long-term interest-free loans to be provided to States to encourage development.
• Three major railway corridors announced; 40,000 bogies to be upgraded to Vande Bharat standards. These will be Energy, mineral, and cement corridors and port connectivity corridors.

Here’s a list of money allocated to specific ministries:
Ministry of Defence: ₹6.2 lakh crore
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways: ₹2.78 lakh crore
Ministry of Railways: ₹2.55 lakh crore
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution: ₹2.13 lakh crore
Ministry of Home Affairs: ₹2.03 lakh crore
Ministry of Rural Development: ₹1.77 lakh crore
Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers: ₹1.68 lakh crore
Ministry of Communications: ₹1.37 lakh crore
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare: ₹1.27 lakh crore

The number of tax filers swelled by 2.4 times and in 2024-25, the tax receipts are projected at Rs 26.02 lakh crore, she said.