"This set of 5 yrs critical in taking first step towards Viksit Bharat": Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi [India], July 31 : Speaking on the Union Budget 2024-25 in Rajya Sabha, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday that this set of five years is very critical in taking the first step towards building a Viksit Bharat (developed India) by 2047.
She also said that since 2014, the principal of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, and Sabka Prayaas' has been guiding them and continues in this budget as well.
"There has been a robust discussion on the budget. I understand 83 speakers have participated in the discussion. This budget for 2024-25 is actually a continuation of the interim budget. So, the features of the interim budget and the critical aspects of it are naturally subsumed into this regular budget. Since 2014, the principal which has guided us is 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayaas' which continues in this budget as well and hopefully will guide for the next five years. This set of five years being very critical in taking the first step towards building a Viksit Bharat (Developed India) by 2047".
"This budget strikes a fine balance among several overriding priorities. Growth, employment, welfare spending, capital investments, and fiscal consolidation are given equal place... I had promised in this House in 2021 that the government would endure to attain a fiscal deficit to the GDP level below 4.5 percent by the year 2025-26," she said.
"We have reached an unprecedented high number of 9.2 percent in 2021, and we are well on track to attain the target," she added.
She also said, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), "India's share in global growth is 16 percent, and it is also rising."
"While this budget seeks to consolidate our earlier accomplishments, I have announced a slew of measures in providing a renewed impetus to the manufacturing sector. The aim is to boost domestic employment, create employment opportunities, and ensure a high and sustained increase in India's share in the global GDP over the next five years," she added.
She also said that several measures have been taken in this budget: "In particular, they have mentioned the basic customs duties, which have been reduced, and on specific items. Together with the production-linked incentives given for mobiles, India now already produces 97 percent of all total mobile phones in demand in the country. And thirty percent of total production in India in the year 2024 has gone for exports exclusively".
"So, India's production-linked incentive scheme stands out as a successful scheme and continues to witness a lot of interest from investors...," she added.
Nirmala Sitharaman also said, "We fully exempted customs duty on 25 critical minerals and reduced the basic custom duty on two of them."
Speaking on the tax revenues, she said, "Tax revenues have seen impressive growth. Efforts on metering have improved billing and collection efficiency in power sector, that has also resulted in non-tax revenues increasing from Rs 5,148 crores in 22-23 to Rs 6,500 crores in 23-24. It's a big reform step."