Interim Budget 2024 Balancing Between Election & Expectations
The interim budget has quite distinct characteristics from a regular budget as this is considered the decisive step to bring a strong mandate for the ruling government in the upcoming election. The anticipations from the interim budget 2024 were similar, the government under the leadership of Narendra Modi will record the hattrick if it comes back to power.
Reviewing the overall interim budget 2024, Dakshita Das, Former Civil Servant & Gender Budgeting Expert, said that Interim Budget 2024 has pointed out the gains of the last two decades regarding digital infrastructure, especially the digital connection of citizens.
Das appreciated the government’s approach to focus on green energy, she highlighted that since the government is in power, a lot of work has been done towards the green economy.
While another panellist, Preeti Sharma, Partner, Tax and Regulatory Services, BDO India considers tax reforms done by the government a significant step in the direction of India’s growth story. Sharma said that as it was an interim budget, there are no changes in the tax system, but it will also play a pivotal role in the upcoming budget.
Apart from reviewing the government’s performance in the last year, the budget is also a financial document that forecasts the government’s vision and plans for the upcoming years. S Ravi, Founder, Ravi Rajan & Co. and independent director in many large public companies, highlighted the vision of ‘Viksit Bharat’ clearly mentioned in the budgetary speech of FM.
Ravi appreciated the government’s plan to invest in infrastructure that will boost the overall economy. He added that the continuity in the plans visible in the budget shows that the ruling government is confident in their retention in power.
From a core statistical point of view, R R Gupta, Economist said, “While comparing macro data of the last two decades, 7 per cent of GDP growth is not feasible without any strong policy support.” Likewise, the nominal GDP of USD 7 trillion by 2030 needs 12.8 per cent growth on a CAGR basis but in 2014-2023 it was barely 6.9 per cent.”
He also added that the prosperity of MSMEs and agro sector is a prerequisite for inclusive growth of the nation since 80 per cent is still generated from these two sectors.
“Within all the contours, the interim budget was really positive”, said Suyash Gupta, Director General, of Indian Auto LPG Coalition. He said that as many experts expected it to be the most populist budget on the contrary it stood out.
Gupta also added that the interim budget showed the confidence of the regime to come back which is what an industry needs consistency.
Talking from the financial sector, Sanil Basutkar, Co-Founder and Head of Product & Marketing at Bharatsure, said that FM has not announced much regard to the financial sector but Basutkar appreciated the government’s effort in curtailing the fiscal deficit. He highlighted that despite of pandemic, the government can work on fiscal consolidation which is a positive sign.
A government can address the big problems when it focuses on the fundamental issues and that is what is being done by the Modi government, highlighted by Pankaj Agarwal, Chief Operating Officer at Bikano Group.
Agarwal said that this government highly emphasises the problems of farmers and acknowledges them as ‘Annadata’, providing them a handful in the form of subsidies. According to him, assisting the farmers induces the overall purchasing power of people across the country.
The experts’ comments conclude that the interim budget 2024-25 was quite balanced which signifies multiple meanings related to the retention of the present government. Awaiting for full-fledged budget in July 2024, every sector is anticipating positive trends.
