Special 
Nirmala Sitharaman started by outlining the economic triumphs of the Modi government. Budget 2024 highlights:
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman's shortest Budget speech had points to boost tourism, housing and renewable energy adoption, but proposed spending on roads, ports and airports in the wold’s fastest-growing major economy fell short of expectations. For the salaried, status quo on taxation was a dampener. Takeaways
-- The government has raised the capital expenditure target by 11.1per cent to Rs 11.11 lakh crore for the next fiscal starting April 1. This would be 3.4 per cent of the GDP, the Finance Minister said in her speech.
-- For FY24 the fiscal gap has been cut to 5.8 per cent against estimated 5.9 per cent. The number for 2024-25 has been fixed at 5.1%, below the revised budgeted for 2023-24, stating that the aim is to achieve a fiscal deficit target of below 4.5 per
-- A divestment target of Rs 50,000 crore for FY25. The Modi-led government missed its budgeted disinvestment target in the current fiscal year, like the past five years. It has been revised to Rs 30,000 crore against the previous Rs 51,000 crore.
-- No significant changes to the tax rates for FY25. The government also announced withdrawal of outstanding direct tax demand, to benefit up to one crore people, for up to Rs 25,000 pertaining up to FY10 and Up to Rs 10,000 for FY11-FY15
-- Healthcare facilities under Ayushman Bharat extended to all Aasha workers, Aanganwadi workers
-- Vaccination of 9-14 year old girls for cervical cancer
-- MNREGA - Allocation hiked by 43.3% to Rs 86,000 crore
-- Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY - Allocation up 4.2% to Rs 7,500 crore
-- PLI Schemes - Allocation hiked by 33.5% to Rs 6,200 crore
-- Rs 2.55 lakh crore has been allocated for the Railways for the fiscal 2024-25, beating previous year's high of Rs 2.4 lakh crore. Allocation for Defence sector.
-- Defence sector also got a boost with raised expenditure to Rs 6.25 lakh crore from budgeted estimate of Rs 5.94 lakh crore in FY24, a hike of 4 per cent.
-- Promote investment in post-harvest activity by both private and public
sector support
-- Empower dairy farmers
-- More efforts to control Foot and mouth disease
-- Crop insurance has been given to 4 crore farmers under PM Fasal Bima
Yojana
-- Five integrated Aqua Park to be set up
-- Energy, Mineral, and Cement to get dedicated corridor
-- 40,000 normal train bogies to be converted into high speed Vande Bharat
ones
-- Capex outlay of Rs 11.11 lakh crore
-- Capex outlay at 3.4 per cent of GDP
-- FY24 Fiscal Deficit target revised to 5.8 per cent of GDP from 5.9 per cent.
-- 5.1 % Fiscal Deficit target for FY 25
-- Govt plans to reduce fiscal deficit to 4.5 per cent in 2025-26
-- FY 25 Gross market borrowing target is Rs 14.13 lakh crore
-- Net market borrowing seen at Rs 11.75 lakh crore
-- Revised expenditure for FY 24 Rs 44.90 lakh crore
-- Nominal GDP growth seen at 10.5%
-- Food Subsidy 2.12 lakh crore
-- FY 24 Divestment Target Cut to Rs 30,000 crore
-- FY 25 Divestment Target set at Rs 50,000 crore
Budget 2024 Highlights: Aviation gets more wings
-- Roll out of Udan Schemes have been very successful
-- 517 new routes to be launched under Udan Scheme
-- Defence allocation increased by nearly 20 percent to Rs 6.22 lakh crore
-- No change in direct and indirect tax including import tax
-- Same tax rates for Direct and Indirect tax retained
-- Tax break for start-up extended to March 31, 2025
-- Focus on improving taxpayers service
-- Tax reforms widened tax base and increased tax collections
-- Govt to withdraw old disputed direct tax demands of up to Rs 25,000 till
FY2009 and Rs 10,000 for 2010-11 to 2014-15. It will benefit 1 crore taxpayers
-- FM also proposes some tax benefits for pension funds
-- Processing time of tax returns reduced from 93 days in FY14 to 10 days
-- Tax base of GST more than doubled
-- Number of tax filers swelled by 2.4 times, direct tax collection trebled since
2014
-- Tax receipts for 2024-25 projected at Rs 26.02 lakh crore
Budget 2024 Highlights: Tourism
-- Interest-free loans to states to promote tourism
-- Funds will be provided for developement of tourism in Lakshwadweep
-- Panel to be formed for tackling the challenges of higher population
The centre has withdrawn all outstanding disputed direct tax demand up to Rs 25,000 in her budget speech. The announcement was made to provide the ease of living of the taxpayers. This move will
benefit 1 crore tax payers as per the speech.
As per the Budget 2024 speech, "There are a large number of petty, non-verified, non-reconciled or disputed direct tax demands, many of them dating as far back as the year 1962, which continue to remain on the books, causing anxiety to honest tax payers and hindering refunds of subsequent years. I propose to withdraw such outstanding direct tax demands up to Rs 25,000 pertaining to the period up to FY 2009-10 and up to Rs 10,000 for financial years 2010-11 to 2014-15. This is expected to benefit about a crore tax-payer
I would like to assure the taxpayers that their contributions have been used wisely for the development of the country and welfare of its people. I appreciate the taxpayers for their continued support. The government has reduced and rationalised tax rates. Under the new tax scheme, there is now no tax liability for taxpayers with income up to Rs 7 lakh up from Rs 2.2 lakh in the financial year 2013-14.
--Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Grameen) close to achieving target of 3 crore houses, additional 2 crore targeted for next 5 years
--Housing for Middle Class scheme to be launched to promote middle class to buy/built their own houses
-- Encourage Cervical Cancer Vaccination for girls (9-14 years)
-- Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 to be expedited for improved nutrition delivery, early childhood care and development
-- U-WIN platform for immunisation efforts of Mission Indradhanush to be rolled out
-- Health cover under Ayushman Bharat scheme to be extended to all ASHA, Angawadi workers and helpers
Bulk of the market reaction has been on the bond side rather than in the stock market. Investors have bought Sitharaman’s pledge to rein in the fiscal deficit and cut borrowings.
The budget delivered on the consolidation and capex theme, by not only expecting the FY24 deficit to fare better than budgeted but also pegging the FY25 goalpost at a narrower-than-expected -5.1% of GDP. By extension, gross and net borrowings are much lower than FY24 providing significant relief to the domestic debt markets. Capex push also remains in place with 11% increase, alongside concessionary support to the states to pursue on-ground spending commitments.”
Radhika Rao of DBS
10 crore LPG connections released under PMUY
36.9 crore LED bulbs, 72.2 lakh LED Tube lights, and 23.6 lakh Energy efficient fans distributed under UJALA
1.3 crore LED Street Lights installed under SNLP
i) Reach 500 gigawatts (GW) of non-fossil energy capacity by 2030.
ii) Meet 50 per cent of India’s energy requirement from renewable energy (RE) sources by 2030.
iii) Reduce the carbon intensity of the economy by 45% below 2005 levels by 2030.
iv) Reduce total projected carbon emissions by 1 billion tonnes by 2030.
v) Achieve the target of net-zero emissions by 2070.
For financial year 2024-25, the tax receipts are estimated at Rs 26.02 trillion
FY24 Total Expenditure Revised estimate At ₹44.90 lakh crore. overnment will further promote private and public investment in post harvest activities including aggregation, modern storage, supply chains, primary and secondary processing, marketing and branding
Sitharaman lays out a detailed plan to achieve the Indian government’s 2070 Net Zero goal. That includes viability gap funding for harnessing wind energy, coal gasification plan, biofuel expansion and creating an ecosystem for EVs like payment security for procuring electric buses for public transport.
Centre reins in on fiscal deficit. Revised fiscal deficit at 5.8 per cent of GDP for FY 23-24
Sitharaman says India will spend 11.1% more in infrastructure, which is a bit underwhelming. It’s at par with India’s nominal growth estimate. For India to improve its creaking infrastructure, it needs to spend much more, not less.
Indian carriers have placed orders for 1,000 new aircraft as the aviation sector has expanded due to the government’s policies and the administration will continue expanding the network of new airports, Sitharaman says. These again form part of the government’s vision that she’s spelling out.
40,000 normal railway bogies to be converted to Vande Bharat standards
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