Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents her fifth full Budget after she took over as Finance Minister in July 2019. Screengrab/Twitter.
New Delhi: Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday tabled Union Budgedt 2023-24, which is the last full Budget of the second term of the BJP-led NDA government ahead of the general elections in 2024.
The Finance Minister got straight to the point, starting her Budget speech with focus on rural India.
She said the Budget for 2023-24 hopes to build on the foundation of the previous budget and blue print for India@100.
“India is a bright start in the world economy. As such, the budget will hope to build on the foundation laid in the previous budget and the blueprint drawn for India@100,” Sitharaman said.
For the unversed, this is the first Budget in Amrit Kaal, she said.
The Finance Minister sticks to the advance estimate for current fiscal year growth of 7 per cent.
Free food grains
The Finance Minister in her Budget 2023 speech said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Indian government ensured that no one went hungry during the pandemic by providing free food grains to 80 crore poor people.
In times of global challenges, G-20 presidency gives an opportunity to strengthen India’s role in the global order, she added.
The government is implementing scheme to supply free foodgrains to poor under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY) with expenditure of Rs 2 lakh crore from 1 January, the finance minister said.
Read all LIVE updates on Union Budget 2023 here.
Agriculture and allied sector growth has been buoyant through the years on the back of the measures adopted by the government to augment crop and livestock productivity, returns to farmers through price support and by promoting crop diversification.
Private investment in agriculture sector has increased by 9.3 per cent in FY21 (7 per cent in FY20).
Sitharaman is presenting her fifth full Budget after she took over as Finance Minister in July 2019.
With inputs from PTI
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