The Union Budget 2024, which is expected to emphasise adjustments to the income tax system and enhance the ease of doing business in India, will be presented in Parliament today by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. This will be her seventh consecutive budget and will surpass the record held by the late Moraji Desai, who presented six consecutive budgets.
The much awaited comprehensive budget for 2024–25, the first under the Modi 3.0 government, will be unveiled on the Parliament floor today at 11 a.m.
The finance minister’s big statements and the government’s prognostications regarding the state of the economy as a whole will be the focus of attention for everyone. The first significant economic document of the Modi 3.0 government would be the Union Budget 2024, which will likely lay the groundwork for the country’s transformation into ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047, among other things. Sitharaman presented the pre-Budget Economic Survey to the Lok Sabha on Monday. It established a cautious growth estimate of 6.5 to 7 percent for the current fiscal year.
The Finance Minister also lay on the table, under subsection (1) of Section 3 of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003, a copy each (in English and Hindi) of the following papers: medium-term fiscal policy strategy statement and macro-economic framework statement. The Finance Minister will further lay on the table statements (in English and Hindi) of the estimated receipts and expenditures (2024-25) of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir (with the legislature).
The Parliament’s budget session started on July 22 and is scheduled to conclude on August 12.
The finance minister will visit the Ministry of Finance’s North Block headquarters before announcing the budget. She will meet with her ministry’s secretaries and then accompany them to the President’s mansion to obtain authorization prior to presenting the Budget.
Prior to the budget announcement, the halwa ceremony is another important occasion. The budget document printing process is traditionally initiated by the government with a ‘halwa ceremony’ a few days before to the budget’s presentation. The commencement of the lockdown at the Finance Ministry, which prohibits any official from leaving the ministry compound, coincides with the Halwa ritual, which is why it is crucial.
(with inputs from ANI)