States will get Rs 2.49L cr more in FY25: FM

The total resources proposed to be transferred to the States in 2024-25 is estimated at Rs22.91 lakh cr

Aiming high growth:

♦ PLI schemes will boost mfg sector

♦ Govt sticks to fiscal deficit trajectory

♦ Agniveer scheme keeps armed forces battle-ready

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said the Union Budget strikes a fine balance between growth, employment, capital investment, and fiscal consolidation, among others.

Replying to the discussion on Union Budget 2024-25 and Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in Rajya Sabha, the Minister also said the Budget proposes unflinching support to cooperative federalism. “I would like to underline that our unflinching commitment to cooperative federalism. The total resources proposed to be transferred to the States in 2024-25 is estimated at Rs22.91 lakh crore.

This actually entails an increase of Rs2.49 lakh crore over 2023-24,” the minister said. Referring to general budget, she said the capital expenditure in the last 10 years of the Narendra Modi government stood at Rs43.82 lakh crore, which is compared to Rs 13.19 lakh crore during the decade-ago rule of UPA. Sitharaman also said the PLI schemes continue to remain attractive for the manufacturing sector. The budget is an exercise to make India an attractive destination for manufacturing companies, she added.

She also said the government is complying with the fiscal deficit trajectory. It will bring down the deficit to below 4.5 per cent by 2025-26 from the targeted 4.9 per cent for the current fiscal. The finance minister highlighted that for agriculture and allied sectors the budget has allocated Rs1.52 lakh crore, which is Rs8,000 crore more than the previous year. For comparison, in 2013-14, the last year of Congress-led UPA, only Rs30,000 crore was allocated for agriculture. She also emphasised that financial position of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has improved. Sitharaman said J&K Bank has made a turnaround and posted profit.

The Finance Minister also said the Agniveer scheme will help keep armed forces battle-ready and young, and there is no need to do politics over it.

Dismissing criticism over the scheme, the Minister said recruiting young people in the age group of 17.5-21 years will ensure actually that India has younger soldiers who are on the front line. “One of the expected outcomes of the scheme is that armed forces will have a much younger force by recruiting those in the age group of 17.5-21 years,” she said.