Nirmala Sitharaman. PTI
New Delhi: An Agriculture Accelerator Fund will be set up to encourage agri-startups by young entrepreneurs, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Sitharaman added, “The agricultural credit target will be increased to Rs 20 lakh crores with a focus on animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries.”
Sitharaman’s budget for the fiscal year starting April 2023 is her fifth straight since 2019.
Other ministers who have presented five straight annual financial statements include Arun Jaitley, P Chidambaram, Yashwant Sinha, Manmohan Singh and Morarji Desai.
After taking charge of the Finance Ministry in the Modi Government in 2014, Jaitley presented five budgets in a row from 2014-15 to 2018-19.
It was in 2017, that Jaitley departed from the colonial-era tradition of presenting Budget on the last working day of February to 1st of the month.
Piyush Goyal, who was holding the additional charge of the Ministry due to ill health of Jaitley, presented the interim budget or vote on account for 2019-20.
After the 2019 general elections, in the Modi 2.0 Government, Sitharaman was given the Finance portfolio.
Under Sitharaman, India has weathered the Covid pandemic with an array of policy measures announced for the poor and continued its tag of the fastest growing major economy and a ‘bright spot’ in world economy.
In 2019, Sitharaman became the second woman to have presented the budget after Indira Gandhi, who had presented the budget for the financial year 1970-71
That year, Sitharaman did away with the traditional budget briefcase and instead went for a ‘bahi-khata’ with the National Emblem to carry the speech and other documents.
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