Budget for ViksitBharat props up opportunities, boosts energy and growth

The budget has moved from ‘women’s development’ to ‘women-led development’. An allocation of more than INR three lakh crore for schemes benefitting women and girls has been made. Watch out for the rise in ‘Sheconomy’

What do you think was happening when the outgoing government bore upon the polity that its plan and preparation for life after the general elections 2024 was all set? With the staid and incremental approach of the Interim Budget comes a pretty distinctive one when viewed from the standpoint of priorities. This budget is all about employment and infrastructure creation.

On a lighter note, one wonders what it is with number 11 and infrastructure expenditure, with the revised amount standing at INR 11.11 trillion, an 11 per cent increase from the Interim Budget. It is now increased to 3.4 per cent of the GDP from the earlier 3.1 per cent.

With respect to employment, the government recently claimed that it has created eight crore jobs since 2021 (RBI KLEMS database, July 2024), thanks to its thrust on infrastructure. However, one notices a clear incentivization of employment through private sector partnering, a node-based development, coupled with other schemes to address livelihood issues of the poor, youth, and women.

In keeping with the Interim Budget’s ‘GYAN’ priorities, India Budget 2024 takes it forward. The thrust is on investing in human resources, particularly youth and women. Education and skills training are largely to generate jobs or create self- employment.

Here is a quick look at the allocations.

G- The Poor: The Economic Survey 2024 called for bottom-up development with private sector also partnering to support government’s public spending. The ‘saturation approach’ that has been adopted looks at covering all five crore eligible people with all government schemes. Schemes supporting rural craftsmen, artisans, women, scheduled tribes, scheduled castes and street vendors have been addressed in this.

Y- The Youth: Linking EPFO with first time entrants and incentives to employers in formal employment by incentivising corporates that employ them is a game changer. This scheme is projected to benefit 210 lakh first time job entrants and 30 lakh youth in manufacturing, apart from a further 50 lakh employed persons under employer incentives. Skilling of 20 lakh youth over a period of five years is envisaged under the PM’s package by upgrading over 1000 ITIs. Financial support of up to INR 10 lakh for higher education in India through e-vouchers will benefit one lakh students.

A- The Farmers: Vegetable Production Clusters to enable small farmers to access new markets, by using food storage facilities, is a strategic farm-to-market- move. Agriculture self- sufficiency is assured with production incentives for pulses and oilseeds. Additionally, three crore rural housing, and Jan Jatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan for tribal villages has been announced, while 25,000 new rural areas are covered under PMGSY for all-weather road linkage.

N- The Women: The budget has moved from ‘women’s development to ‘women-led development’. An allocation of more than INR three lakh crore for schemes benefitting women and girls has been made. Watch out for the rise in ‘Sheconomy’.

Industry-led growth is the mantra of the budget whether it is MSME or export incentivization; the ‘One district one product’ is a scheme devised to uplift villages leveraging geographical advantage, bringing producers and production facilities closer to markets. Start- ups are being incentivised by abolishing the angel tax. Tourism infrastructure is a priority because the potential of worldwide interest in India is uplifting the poor and middle class. Look East (within India) policy does not appear to be limited to foreign policy anymore. With Purvoday, the country’s eastern region can look forward to receiving outlays to launch waterways, highways, and power projects in Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Assam.

Sector specific allocations to improve rural and urban infrastructure are in the areas of housing, urban development, mining and a critical minerals policy, which looks at self- sufficiency. The expansion of digital infrastructure to widen its spread to cover MSME, services delivery, urban governance, law and justice is also envisaged.

Once again, the intent of the government through Budget 2024 is clear. It is to take-off from this inflection point towards a developed Bharat, one year at a time, until 2047.

(The writer is founder and Director of Vayati Systems and Research Inc)