Interim Union Budget - 2024-25
A road map towards a developed economy by 2047
The Government has been adopting 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' as its 'mantra' for the development of the country. Pro-people programmes were formulated and implemented promptly. The Interim Budget of 2024- 25 highlighted the journey of development and growth of India since 2014, through various initiatives taken by the Government, aimed at making India a developed country by 2047. Garib (poor); Mahila (Women); Yuva (Youth) Annadata (farmer) continues to be the focus areas for the Government.
The Hon'ble Finance Minister expressed the intent of the Government to prioritise the development of eastern region of the Country which is the need of the hour. The vision for next five years focussed on housing for rural areas and middle class; utilisation and promotion of renewable solar energy to the benefit of the common man; upgradation of prevailing medical facilities; infrastructure development; research and innovation and more. The slogan for new India, "Jai Jawan; Jai Kisan; Jai Vigyan" extended to include Jai Anusandhan will lay base for innovation and development. Allotment for one lakh crore for the corpus to encourage and scale up research and innovation will surely prove to be a golden era for today's tech savvy youth. The Interim Budget also laid stress on promoting tourism, investments, reforms in the States for "Viksit Bharat", societal changes, empowering women and youth, apart from others. Proactive inflation management has helped keep inflation within the policy band. The strengthening of financial sector has helped in making savings, credit, and investments more efficient.
For the year 2024-25 the break-up of sources of revenue and expenditure in terms of percentage are as per graph below:
For the year 2024-25; total receipts other than borrowings and total expenditure are estimated as Rs. 30.80 and Rs. 47.66 crore respectively. The fiscal deficit in 2024-25 is estimated to be 5.1 per cent of GDP, adhering to the path of fiscal Consolidation.
The tax receipts are estimated at 26.02 Lakh crore. The direct taxes collection in last 10 years has increased 3 times and number of tax filers has increased by 2.4 times. The tax base of GST has more than doubled and average monthly gross GST collection has almost doubled to Rs. 1.66 Lakh crore this year. The focus of the Government has been to provide enhanced services to the taxpayers. Goods and Services Tax has enabled 'One Nation, One Market, One Tax'. Tax reforms have led to deepening and widening of tax base.
Respecting the tradition, the Hon'ble Finance Minister, did not propose any change to the Direct and Indirect Taxes in the Interim Budget, 2024-25. However, to provide relief to common man the Hon'ble Finance Minister proposed to write off long pending litigated demands. Minor changes have been made in the provisions pertaining to TCS and extension upto March, 2025 is proposed to be provided in respect of certain cases where tax benefits/ tax exemptions are expiring in March, 2024.
The underlying message from the Hon'ble Union Finance Minister in the Interim Budget Speech is that the Government is ensuring transparent, accountable, people-centric and prompt trust-based administration. ICAI appreciates the interim budget and feels that the structural reforms taken by the Government have now started bearing the fruit and is laying the foundation for a stronger and resilient new India.
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