Jaipur:

Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Diya Kumari, presenting the state budget in the Assembly on Wednesday, made a series of announcements, including four lakh recruitments in five years, construction of nine greenfield expressways, new tourism policy and reduction in VAT on cooking gas and CNG from 14.5 per cent to 10 per cent.

She said that more than 1 lakh recruitment will be made in the current year.

Deputy CM Kumari proposed a new ‘Youth Policy-2024’ and announced apprenticeship/internship programmes and Artificial Intelligence-based counselling for youth.

The development of an integrated system for additional resource mobilisation in online gaming, e-commerce and OTT platform services was also announced for this segment.

In her 2-hour 51-minute budget speech, the Deputy CM made many significant announcements for different segments including youth, women, and others.

She proposed the construction of nine greenfield expressways stretching to more than 2,750 km in the state.

Deputy CM Kumari also proposed the ‘Industrial Policy 2024’ based on the concept of Ease of Doing Business (EoDB).

She further proposed an Export Promotion Policy and Garment and Apparel Policy to boost exports.

The Deputy CM also proposed the development of a Textile Park in Bhilwara, Ceramic Park in Bikaner, Industrial and Logistical Hub near Bandikui in Dausa, Solar Panel Manufacturing Park in Pali, Biomass Pellet and Chemical Manufacturing Park in Banswara, Tiles Manufacturing Park in Kishangarh and Handicraft Park in Jodhpur.

The budget further proposed setting up new solar parks in Bikaner’s Pugal and Chhatargarh and Jaisalmer’s Bodana.

Deputy CM Kumari announced that all government offices in the state will be connected to solar energy in a phased manner. Also, more than two lakh houses deprived of electricity will be provided domestic electricity connections in the next two years, she said.

Tap water will be supplied to 25 lakh rural homes this year by spending Rs 15000 crore, the Deputy CM said.

She further said that the state government will also provide loans at low interest rates to women working with self-help groups. For meritorious students, the state government proposed free tablets and the internet.

Further, it was announced that a defence manufacturing hub will be established in the state.

Under a new tourism policy, the Deputy CM proposed setting up the state tourism development board as well as a heritage conservation board to develop archaeological places and heritage sites.

Rajasthan Mandapam will be developed on the lines of the Bharat Mandapam of Delhi and like Kashi Vishwanath, a corridor of Khatu Shyam Ji temple will be built at a cost of about Rs 100 crore, she said.

Deputy CM Kumari announced that Vice Chancellors in universities would be called ‘Kul Guru’.

She said that a ‘PM Unity Mall’ will be built in Jaipur to promote ODOP (one district one product). A budget of Rs 100 crore has been allocated for this.

Engineering colleges of Bharatpur, Bikaner and Ajmer will be developed as Rajasthan Institute of Technology with Rs 300 crore. Basic facilities including libraries and toilets will be developed in schools at a cost of Rs 350 crore, the Deputy CM said.

In the budget, arrangements have been made for Atal Udyam Yojana for the youth. Rs 25 crore has been announced for startups.

Also, a Rs 200-crore corpus fund will created as e-Vehicle Promotion Fund under the Electric Vehicle Policy.

In the budget, the government has estimated a revenue receipt of Rs 2.64 lakh crore, revenue expenditure of Rs 2.90 lakh crore and revenue deficit of Rs 25,758 crore.

The fiscal deficit is estimated at 3.93 per cent of the GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product).

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Under the PM Awas Yojna (Rural) housing scheme, the government aims to facilitate construction of an additional 20 million houses over the next few years. File.
| Photo Credit: Ranjeet Kumar

India plans to increase state subsidies on rural housing in the upcoming Union Budget by as much as 50% from the previous year to more than $6.5 billion, after setbacks for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)in elections, two government sources said.

The planned hike in housing subsidies is part of a broader government initiative to boost spending on rural infrastructure including village roads and a jobs programme to help millions of young people stuck in the agriculture sector amid limited manufacturing jobs.

If approved, it would mark the largest annual increase in central spending on the rural housing programme since its inception in 2016.

“The government is worried over widespread rural economic distress, driven by higher food inflation and sluggish growth in farmers’ incomes,” said one of the government sources with knowledge of budget discussions.

Shares of Housing and Urban Development Corp rose as much as 9% after the Reuters report, while Aadhar Housing Finance and GIC Housing Finance rose around 4.5%.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is having to rely on allies to run the government for the first time in a decade, after the opposition did much better than expected in a bitterly fought national election that ended last month.

Under the PM Awas Yojna (Rural) housing scheme, the government aims to facilitate construction of an additional 20 million houses over the next few years, after providing aid for more than 26 million homes for poor households over the past eight years.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to announce details of plan during the budget presentation later this month.

“We expect a substantial increase in allocations for several rural schemes this year, including housing, roads and jobs programme,” said the second government source, noting central subsidies for rural housing could exceed ₹550 billion, up from ₹320 billion last fiscal year.

He said state spending on the rural jobs programme was expected to increase substantially from an earlier estimate of ₹860 billion, but the government may seek parliament approval for this additional spending later, not as part of the budget.

He said a separate proposal for increasing spending on village roads was also under consideration, from earlier estimates of ₹120 billion in the current fiscal year.

Both sources spoke on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to discuss budget proposals with the media.

During pre-budget consultations, economists and industry leaders urged the government to ramp up rural spending to stimulate consumer demand, noting that private consumption was growing at half the pace of nearly 8% annual economic growth.

The sources said to build 20 million houses for the poor in the rural areas, the central and state governments are expected to allocate up to ₹4 trillion over the next few years, with the central government contributing around ₹2.63 trillion.

A finance ministry spokeswomen didn’t comment when asked about spending plans.

Last month, shortly after assuming office, Mr. Modi’s cabinet announced plans to assist in the construction of 30 million houses in rural and urban areas, without disclosing financial details.

The Ministry of Rural Development has proposed increasing state subsidies to about ₹2,00,000 rupees per housing unit, up from ₹1,20,000 rupees previously, citing rising costs of raw materials, the second official said.

In a pre-Budget meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, players demanded incentives in terms of affordable financing option and cheaper land for setting up hospitals in Tier 3 cities. File.
| Photo Credit: ANI

The healthcare industry on June 27 demanded incentives and increased allocations for the sector in the upcoming Budget.

In a pre-Budget meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, players demanded incentives in terms of affordable financing option and cheaper land for setting up hospitals in Tier 3 cities.

“Prime Minister wanted 3,000 hospitals in the tier 3 towns with 100 bed which has not happened. So, we want government should incentivise private sector in terms of cheaper electricity, cheaper land, affordable loan and single window clearences so that these hospitals can be set up,” Association of Healthcare Providers of India (AHPI) DG Girdhar Gyani said.

Indian Red Cross vice chairman Anand Pandhari said the government should create a cell which will strengthen national education policy’s implementation.

This implementation of NEP would help in capacity building for the healthcare sector.

This was the ninth Pre-Budget consultation chaired by the Finance Minister where experts from health and education sectors gave their suggestions for the upcoming general Budget 2024-25.

The Pre-Budget consultation meeting was also attended by Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary along with Finance Secretary and Expenditure Secretary, Secretaries of Department of Economic Affairs, Department of Revenue, and Ministry of Finance.

Besides, Secretary, Department of Higher Education and Department of School Education, and Health Secretary also participated in the meeting.

Nagpur:

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday made light of Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray’s criticism of the budget by saying the latter had himself once admitted he does not understand it.

The budget for 2024-25 presented in the Assembly earlier in the day by deputy chief minister and finance minister Ajit Pawar brings happiness to all sections of society with various welfare schemes, Mr Fadnavis asserted while speaking to reporters at the airport here.

Mr Thackeray had described the Maharashtra budget as a “torrent of assurances” and a “false narrative” pretending to offer something to every section of society.

“Uddhav Thackeray had earlier said, and that too on stage, that he does not understand the budget. When he has said something like this then there is no need to respond to his comment,” Me Fadnavis asserted.

Answering a query, the deputy chief minister said cotton and soybean farmers, most of whom are from Vidarbha, will get relief from the budget announcements and financial aid will be deposited in their bank accounts directly.

The decision on DBT for them was taken earlier but could not be implemented due to the model code of conduct in force for the Lok Sabha polls, the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader said.

“Dairy farmers will get subsidy of Rs 5 per litre. The Mukhyamantri Ladki Bahin Yojana, the provision for three free gas cylinders, Rs 10,000 stipend for youth etc have brought happiness to all sections of society. The CM and finance minister have given a very good budget,” he said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The textile and apparel industry, while welcoming extension of the Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) scheme for two years, has expressed disappointment over unchanged Import Duties.

Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council chairman Sunil Patwari said continuation of the RoSCTL was essential for the long-term trade planning. Orders could be placed in advance for long-term delivery.

The scheme has seen an increased allocation from ₹8,404.66 crore last year to ₹9,246 crore in the budget this year.

Apparel Export Promotion Council chairman Sudhir Sekhri said continuation of the RoSCTL for export of garments and apparel till the end of March 31, 2026 would give the much needed relief to the industry as the traditional markets of the US and the EU were under stress.

The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) chairman Rakesh Mehra said there was no major policy announcement in the interim budget. “The industry needs immediate relief from the financial stress, especially in the spinning sector.”

The total budget allocation for textiles has increased by 27.6 %, largely due to the allocation of ₹600 crore for Cotton Corporation of India towards the cotton MSP operations. Cotton procurement by CCI should be revamped as per policies recommended by user industry associations to ensure price stability and discourage speculative trading.

The allocation for RoSCTL and RoDTEP had increased by 10% and 5.8% respectively, which was modest. The industry was trying to enhance export performance and expects better allocations for trade promotion in the full budget to be announced after the elections, he said.

S.K. Sundararaman, chairman of the Southern India Mills’ Association, said the demands of the textile industry relating to the raw material issues and a few other industry demands should be considered in the full-fledged budget. He welcomed the announcement of measures to encourage green power, including bio-manufacturing, roof top solar and offshore wind to reduce the carbon footprint and the initiatives to prepare the country for meeting the sustainability goals.

According to Sanjay Jain, former chairman of Textile Sector Skill Council, the budget does not offer any major supportive measure to the industry. It did not remove the Import Duty on cotton and or changed the duty on fabric imports, he said.

Tiruppur Exporters Association president K.M. Subramanian said the budget had no announcement related to the textile sector and “We hope there will be supportive measures in the final budget.”

The PTA Users Association general secretary R.K. Vij said it expected corrective changes in Customs Duty for fabrics. However, at least in the full budget the government should make the necessary changes along with rationalisation of the GST rates for manmade fibre sector.

The budget has proposed a revenue surplus of ₹402 crore, breaking the trend of revenue deficit budgets for the past two years

February 17, 2023 10:08 am | Updated 02:59 pm IST

Aided by a buoyant economy, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai presented a ‘please-all’ revenue surplus budget with no tax hike on February 17, less than 100 days ahead of Assembly elections in the State. The budget outlay has, for the first time, crossed the ₹3 lakh crore mark, and is pegged at ₹3,09,182 crore, up from ₹2,65,720 lakh crore in 2022-23.

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Fiscal deficit has been reined in at ₹60,581 crore, or 2.60% of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). With borrowings of ₹77,750 crore, the liabilities at the end of 2023-24 are pegged at ₹5,64,896 lakh crore, or 24.20% of GSDP, thereby satisfying all parameters of Karnataka Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2002.

The budget has proposed a revenue surplus of ₹402 crore, breaking the trend of revenue deficit budgets for the past two years, when the budgets did not comply with the Karnataka Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2002.

Also read: Ceiling for interest-free loans to farmers increased from ₹3 lakh to ₹5 lakh

The Budget speech is also being seen as a poll pitch for the ruling BJP and an exercise in “articulating the legacy” of Mr. Bommai. CM Bommai had earlier described the Budget as a “Budget for the voiceless”, with a focus on “farmers, working class, poor, and women”, setting its political tone.

Here are the latest updates:

How do you place the Budget in the context of global headwinds and insulating India from their worst effects?

Three global factors are important for our economy. One, a significant slowdown in the global economy is the general consensus, even if there are different opinions whether a particular economy or set of economies will go into recession. The massive slowdown will have an impact on our exports and pose a downside for our growth, because a significant part of our economy is dependent on exports. Second, while we are seeing inflation somewhat moderating in major economies, and as a result, those central banks are no longer very aggressive in increasing their policy rates, like the U.S. Federal Reserve just did. We don’t know how that will play out and that has implications even for foreign [capital] flows. The last two-three months are showing that things are falling into an uneasy equilibrium. So capital flows can still be a cause for concern. The third element is which way global prices of major commodities, oil, gas, or even major metals, will move. If the global economy were to slow down significantly, then perhaps, the prices should cool down. At the same time, which direction the Russia and Ukraine conflict goes, can put the oil and gas prices into a spin either way.

When we know these factors are uncertain, and uncertainty can lead to an accident as well — an economic accident that will not be confined to a particular economy — the first concern of our response is ‘Be prudent in managing our economy and don’t take an over-optimistic view’. We have been conservative in estimating revenues and realistic on our expenditure with a prudent fiscal consolidation. For example, we have assumed the fertilizer subsidy will go down about 20%. Perhaps, it will be more. But we decided to be realistic instead of providing for an aggressive reduction and then realising during the course of the year, we need more money.

How do we get the domestic growth drivers like consumption moving? Will next’ year’s higher public capex tip the scales and revive the private investment cycle?

It is not a scale as such, that will tip over and the private sector will start coming in. For the past three quarters, there are signs of private investments picking up, but they are still not large enough to be the primary driver of growth. So we felt that at least another year of public investment should contribute very prominently.

What is the trigger for requesting regulators to review their norms in the Budget speech?

This has to be seen in the larger context of ease of doing business. Departments are taking continuous efforts to assess where compliances can be more optimal and where they can be totally dispensed with, rather than continue with what you have had for decades. All regulators have also taken similar steps. But that exercise has been — somebody says ‘Hey, this is causing a problem for the economy, let’s do something.’ Each regulator taking upon itself to look at its entire set of regulations and decide which are the ones that need tweaks [is what is being mooted]. It doesn’t have to be a tight regulation but smart regulation and they have been working on that. Mentioning in the Budget speech has two aspects as communications with regulators can happen in any meeting. This is a larger message for economic stakeholders, when government hears from them it is difficult to do business and regulations need to be relooked, that it is a continuous effort. But obviously, this is regulators’ domain. The Reserve Bank of India has already taken up a very massive exercise on this after almost two decades. Other regulators will also do it.

Jobs and skills found greater mention in this Budget…

I look at this in a more nuanced way… and we don’t count how many times a particular aspect has been mentioned. Those references have come in a few things as if it is understood. But when the commentary goes as if that [issue] is not getting attention, it is better to make that very explicit. When we talk about a ₹10 lakh crore investment, it will improve the economy’s productive capacity, take care of infrastructure constraints and lead to huge job creation. It is not just in construction, but in steel and other industries too. Similarly, when we say private investment should come in, it doesn’t come in merely into infrastructure, it also comes into plant and machinery and so on. Those require skilled people. Are we investing as a nation in skilling, not just for agriculture or farm labour moving to construction? Job creation is not only about manufacturing, but equally prominent areas like tourism, which also suffers from a lack of trained manpower and entrepreneurs. So that can be an important driver of growth.

The PM Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0, announced in the Budget, talks about training lakhs of youth in three years in new skills like AI. What is the implementation plan?

It’s not a single ministry initiative. For tourism, that Ministry of Tourism has to take the lead because they understand the sector’s needs with their stakeholders, what kind of skill sets are needed. When we look at Industry 4.0, that will be the concerned ministries’ job. The AI component is of a slightly different nature, that is investing into the economy which will help us being competitive in the long run, finding at scale solutions in three areas — Agriculture, Health and Sustainable Cities. So that is more on research and finding solutions rather than depending upon somebody else who will develop a solution which we have to adopt. In AI, the more our data is used for building those models, it will be more applicable for us.

Midday Meal workers burn copies of Union Budget 2023-24 during their protest, in Kolkata, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023.
| Photo Credit: PTI

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella organisation of more than 300 farmers’ outfits and the Right to Food Campaign, a platform for activists working on food and nutritional security, termed the Budget as an attack on farmers and the poor. They said in separate statements that the allocations for the agriculture sector and food subsidy had been reduced considerably in the Budget, presented in the Parliament on Wednesday.

The SKM, expressing shock and bewilderment at the Union Budget, said it had expected the Centre to appreciate the importance of the farm sector with the need to secure income and future of the rural farming community. “Instead, the Union Budget 2023 is the most anti-farmer Budget in the history of the nation,” they said.

The Budget was silent on doubling farmers’ income, the SKM said adding that the Centre “dishonestly stopped” giving data on the income of farmers and out of the targeted increase in the income of ₹13,000, only ₹4,400 had been achieved, that is only one-third of the target, the SKM said.

The grant for PM Kisan Samman Nidhi had been reduced, they said and alleged that the number of beneficiaries had been steadily declining and now the portal had stopped displaying real-time beneficiary data. “At a time of deep economic distress, this scheme gave some relief to farmers but now even that is being constricted,” the SKM said.

Social spending reduced

The Right to Food Campaign said it was shocked to see that the Budget reduced the government spending on the social sector to a huge extent. “The negative impact of the economic crisis that began even before the pandemic, has fallen disproportionately on those at the bottom of the pyramid,” the platform noted. The activists said with the discontinuation of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) from January 1, 2023, the ration entitlement of the people was halved.

“Women and children of the country have once again been ignored even when they have been most affected by the pandemic and the continued economic severity. The allocations for Samarthya (including maternity entitlements), and PM POSHAN (mid-day meals) have reduced considerably this year as well,” they said.

It was encouraging that the Finance Minister today opened the Union Budget speech by talking about India’s economic growth, which is expected to be at 7%, the highest among the major economies. It was reassuring as across the world, there are several nations standing at the brink of a slowdown.

India’s success in managing the COVID-19 pandemic, even as it put people first, and yet managed to minimise the economic impact, stands as a valuable lesson for generations to come; that populations are the bedrock of an economy. Further, the crisis underlined that a nation must ensure its healthcare ecosystem is not only robust, but resilient too.

In the present day, delivering healthcare and making ecosystems resilient require a fine balance between advanced medicine, cutting-edge technology, skilled resources and preventive healthcare. A country’s health infrastructure must enable its doctors to deliver best-in-class clinical outcomes. There must be continuous innovation to boost quality of medical education and a concerted focus on skilling for healthcare is vital. Finally, contemporary technologies should be harnessed to achieve these goals, bridge gaps and prepare for the future.

I believe the Budget announcements set the course towards most of these aspects that will have an impact in the near and longer-term too. In particular, a welcome one was the 157 new nursing colleges that would be established in collaboration with existing medical colleges.

Similarly, skilling youth for the manifold aspects of healthcare will create a valuable talent factory for India and the world. Several nations with a considerable silver population are grappling with an acute paucity of resources and exporting our talent. New multidisciplinary courses for medical devices, setting up of 5G labs and centres of excellence for Artificial Intelligence will ensure that India has the talent base to exploit the opportunities from futuristic medical technologies, as they arise.

Focus on medical research and innovation with select ICMR labs made available to the private sector for research and development (R&D) will encourage collaboration between biotech entrepreneurs and the government. These initiatives along with a new programme to promote research and innovation in the pharmaceutical industry highlights the Budget’s focus on technology in making strong strides towards a healthier and more prosperous India.

Above all, the fact of medicine is that the best way to beat disease, is to avert it. Therefore, similar to the thrust on the Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission announced today, it would be wonderful if many more of the non-communicable diseases are targeted to prevent millions of untimely fatalities.

The writer is Executive Vice Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals and past president, NATHEALTH