Union Budget 2024

Article

Top highlights: Policy announcements

Employment, skilling, MSMEs and middleclass are the key themes for Budget 2024–25

  • Productivity and resilience in agriculture – INR 1,520 billion allocated for agriculture and allied sectors; boost to natural farming byinducting 10 million farmers; facilitation of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in agriculture through digital crop surveys, land registry digitisation and kisan credit cards
  • Employment and skilling – Three employment-linked incentive schemes announced; one month wage reimbursement for first-time workers up to INR 15,000; EPF reimbursements to employers and employees in the manufacturing sector for four years; EPF reimbursements for all sectors upto INR 3,000 per month for two years; 1,000 industrial training institutes to be upgraded; women skilling programmes announced; revision of the Model Skill Loan Scheme of up to INR 0.75 million; support through higher education loans in India up to INR 1 million with a 3 percent interest subvention
  • Inclusive human resource development – Purvodyaya or support to five eastern states (Bihar, Jharkhand, Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh) through the development of essential infrastructure, industrial corridors and expressways; 100+ branches of the Indian Post Payments Bank to be set up in the North-East region
  • Manufacturing and services – A new credit assessment model for MSMEs based on digital footprint; turnover threshold for onboarding on TReDS reduced to INR 2.5 billion; internship allowance introduced; training cost and 10 percent of the internship allowance permitted to be used from company’s CSR funds 
  • Urban development – Encourage states to charge lower stamp duties for all and further lower for women-purchased property; rural and urban land digitisation of GIS mapping, cadastral maps and land registry; 100 weekly haats for street food hubs; INR 10,000 billion under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Urban 2.0
  • Energy security – Ten million households to obtain free electricity under the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana; R&D boost to Bharat Small Modular Reactors and newertechnologies for nuclear energy; a JV between NTPC and BHEL to set up an 800MW commercial plant
  • Infrastructure – Provision of INR 11,111.1 billion for infrastructure (3.4 percent of GDP); market-based financing framework to be introduced; INR 1,500 billion to states as long-term interest-free loan; financial aid to select states for flood management and tourism development
  • Innovation and R&D –Operationalisation of the Anusandhan National Research Fund for prototype research; financing pool of INR 1,000 billion for private sector-driven R&D; venture capital fund of INR 10 billion to be set up for the space economy 
  • Procedural compliance changes –Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) framework to be revised and additional tribunals to be set up exclusively for Companies Act matters; extension of the Centre for Processing Accelerated Corporate Exit (C-PACE) for voluntary closure of LLPs
  • Regulatory changes – Flexible modefor financing the leasing of aircraft and ships, and pooled funds of private equity through a variable company structure; power to grant immunity under the Benami Property Transactions Act introduced; exemption from penal provisions for reporting under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign income and Assets) and Imposition of Taxes Act, 2015 allowed where assets (except immovable property) are up to INR 2.5 million; FDI and ODI to be simplified for facilitation and topromote the use of the Indian rupee for overseas investment
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