India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India, on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Bloomberg
The Finance Minister presented her sixth budget today. Her announcements ranged from railways, tourism, healthcare, technology, aviation, green energy, aquaculture, housing, and more. With regards to taxation, no changes were announced to the tax structure of direct and indirect taxes, and import duties. Meanwhile, startups and investments made by sovereign wealth or pension funds were given an extended tax exemption till March 31, 2025.
Budget 2024 live updates
Besides this, here are the charts that show key numbers from the interim Budget 2024:
Budget at a glance
The Finance Minister said that the Revised Estimate of the total receipts other than borrowings is Rs 27.56 lakh crore. The Revised Estimate of the total expenditure is Rs 44.90 lakh crore. The revenue receipts at Rs 30.03 lakh crore are expected to be higher than the Budget Estimate, reflecting strong growth momentum and formalization in the economy.
Capital Expenditure
Capital expenditure outlay was raised to ₹11.1 lakh crore for FY25 from the ₹9.5 lakh crore in the previous fiscal. The proportion of capital expenditure (excluding grant in aid) to total expenditure stands at 23.31%. This is in line with the trend of increasing capital expenditure in the past few years. Capital expenditure means the government’s spending on durable assets like the construction of infrastructure.
In 2024-25, the total expenditure is estimated at ₹ 47.66 lakh crore, a 6.1% increase over the revised estimates of 2023-24.”
Fiscal Deficit
The budget estimates for the fiscal deficit for FY 25 was pegged at 5.1%, down from the revised estimates of 5.8% last fiscal year. The fiscal deficit is the difference between the government’s revenues and expenditure. It is financed by money from various sources like market borrowings, small savings, dated securities and others. The government has set a target of 4.5% fiscal deficit by 2025-26.
Rupee come from
Borrowings and other liabilities account for the largest avenue from where the Budget money comes, followed by income tax and GST & other taxes.
Rupee goes to
When it comes to expenditure, the highest amount goes towards paying interest and the money given to the states in the form of taxes and duties, accounting for 20 per cent each of the total expenditure.
State-wise allocation of central taxes and duties
Here is the state-wise distribution of net proceeds of Union Taxes and Duties for Budget Estimates 2024-25.
Allocation to Ministries
The Union Budget allocated a massive ₹6.21 lakh crore for the Defence Ministry, followed by Road Transport & Highways with ₹2.78 lakh crore and Railways with ₹2.55 lakh crore.
Outlay for Major Schemes
The Union Budget 2024-25 listed the allocations for core welfare schemes that drive socio-economic development.
Here is the allocations for major central government sponsored schemes:
Railway Budget in a Glance
Railway projects have been identified under the PM Gati Shakti Yojana for enabling multi-modal connectivity. These will “improve logistics efficiency and reduce costs,” said Ms. Sitharaman.
Touching upon measures that will be taken to expand India’s railway infrastructure, three major railway economic corridors were announced. These include an energy, mineral and cement corridor, a port connectivity corridor and a high traffic density corridor. Ms. Sitharaman emphasised that these corridors, along with dedicated freight corridors, will “accelerate our GDP and reduce logistic costs.”
Health Expenditure
The expenditure for the dept. of health & family welfare for FY25 is Rs. 10,000 crores more than the revised estimates of the current FY. But the allocation to the Union Ministry of Health is estimated to be 1.9% of the total expenditure, continuing the trend of staying below the 2% mark since 2022-23.
Also read |Understanding the formulation of the Budget
