Interim Budget 2024 Latest News: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivered her shortest budget speech since 2019 on Thursday. Presenting the final Budget of Modi govt ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, Sitharaman spoke for 58 minutes, shy of an hour today. This is her shortest budget speech in the last six years that she has presented the Union budget as the finance minister of the country. Back in 2019, she addressed Parliament for two hours 15 minutes during her maiden budget speech. In 2020, Sitharaman’s Budget speech was the longest with a duration of two hours 42 minutes.
In 2021, the duration of Sitharaman’s Budget speech was one hour 50 minutes. In 2022, it was 1 hour 30 minutes, last year, it was 1 hour 27 minutes. The Thursday’s Budget presentation focused more on India’s journey in last 10 years. In terms of announcements, there were not many significant declarations.
Interim Budget 2024: Key takeaways
The interim budget for 2024/25 is seen as the economic manifesto of Modi government, offering insights into its strategies for fiscal consolidation, borrowings, and future taxation policies. On Thursday, Sitharaman announced India’s goal to reduce the fiscal deficit to 5.1% in the fiscal year 2024/25, following a decrease to 5.8% of the gross domestic product in the current year.
Sitharaman emphasised the Centre’s commitment to fiscal consolidation while presenting the interim budget for the fiscal year commencing on April 1. Achieving a lower fiscal deficit target of 5.1% of GDP, coupled with increased capital spending and the implementation of new welfare policies, will rely on augmented tax collections and certain subsidy reductions.