Interim Budget: FM keeps tax rates Unchanged, Govt to launch housing scheme for middle class

In her presentation, the Finance Minister spoke about inclusive development and growth.

Financial Express, February 1, 2024 : The scheme would help the middle class, which currently lives in rented houses, slums, chawls and unauthorised colonies, build their own homes. (FE)

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is currently presenting her sixth consecutive budget. At the outset of her speech, the minister underscored the government’s top priority for four key groups: the poor, youth, women, and farmers. She delved into various subjects, including the economy, women’s involvement in the workforce, PMAY-G, and the significant impact of ‘youth power’ in sports, housing scheme, Skill India Mission, and tax slab, among other subjects.

In her presentation, the Finance Minister spoke about inclusive development and growth. She said that the government will launch a scheme for the “deserving” sections of the middle class.  The scheme would help the middle class, which currently lives in rented houses, slums, chawls and unauthorised colonies, build their own homes.

Sitharaman revealed that India is close to achieving its target of three crore houses under rural housing scheme. Additionally, two crore more houses will be taken up in the coming five years to meet the requirement arising from increase in the number of families.

PTI:  Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced a Rs 11.11 lakh crore spending on infrastructure and vowed to continue reforms as she resisted resorting to populist measures in Modi government's last Budget before general elections, instead choosing to stay on the path of cutting deficit while bolstering measures for focus groups. Presenting a vote on account or an interim Budget for 2024-25, Sitharaman proposed no changes in income tax rates for individuals and corporates, as well as import duty but offered amnesty for disputed income tax demands of the period prior to 2014-15 as a relief to small taxpayers. 

In her close to an hour-long Budget speech in the Lok Sabha, the Finance Minister listed her government's achievements across sectors in the last 10 years and announced measures to boost tourism, housing and renewable energy. Giving a sneak preview of what will be the Modi government's priority in the third term, if re-elected, she said economic policies that foster and sustain growth, facilitate inclusive development and contribute to generation of resources to power investments will be adopted towards making India a developed country by 2047.   

"The next five years will be years of unprecedented development and golden moments to realise the dream of developed India by 2047," she said. 

"Guided by the principle 'reform, perform, and transform', the government will take up next generation reforms, and build consensus with the states and stakeholders for effective implementation," she said. 

The interim Budget seeks Parliament's authorisation for spending for four months and the full Budget for the fiscal year starting April will be presented in July by the government elected in April-May general elections. 

Sitharaman's Budget proposes to cut food, fertiliser and fuel subsidies by 8 per cent in 2024-25 over last year while keeping the allocation for rural employment scheme MGNREGA unchanged. 

Spending on infrastructure such as roads, ports and airports has been raised by 11 per cent to Rs 11.1 lakh crore in a bid to sustain the current world-record beating economic growth and create more jobs. 

The Union government will also provide Rs 1.3 lakh crore long term loans to states to spend on infrastructure. 

The government will build 2 crore affordable houses in the next 5 years and will launch a scheme for housing for the middle class. It will develop tourist centres and market them at global scale as also provide viability gap funding for harnessing wind energy potential for an initial capacity of 1 gigawatt.