India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman holds up a folder with the Government of India’s logo as she leaves her office to present the union budget in the parliament in New Delhi, India, July 23, 2024.
| Photo Credit: ALTAF HUSSAIN

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on Tuesday, presented the first Union Budget of the third term of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government. The Hindu Data team has compiled a series of graphs to analyse the impact of the Budget on select sectors and schemes. 

Data shows that expenditure as a share of the total budget on infrastructure has increased. In contrast, expenditure on major schemes in the social sectors, which includes education, pension and health, have either stagnated or declined. Spending on agriculture too, when considered as a share of the total budget, has stagnated. 

Before delving into individual sectors and schemes, the graph below provides an overview.

The graph below depicts the budgeted expenditure (Rs crore) for FY25BE and the change from FY24RE in percentage points. The bigger the rectangle, the higher the allocation for a sector. The deeper the blue, the higher the increase compared with FY24RE. The deeper the red, the higher the decrease compared with FY24RE. 

As usual, interest payments garnered a lion’s share of the budget this year. In absolute figures, Rs 11,62,940 crore was allocated for interest payments. If expressed as a share of FY25BE’s total Budget, it comes to 24.12%, which is 0.62 percentage points more than its share in FY24RE. Apart from interest payments, the transport sector formed the bulk of the expenditure in FY25BE at 11.29%. However, transport’s share in the total Budget came down by 0.4% points from last year.

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The allocation to agriculture remained stagnant at around 3.1% of the total budget. Allocation to flagship schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PMKSN), as a share of total budget, declined in FY25BE.

Defence expenditure as a share of the total Budget declined to 9.43%, the lowest in at least nine years. In fact, defence expenditure in absolute terms has also declined. Allocations to the departments of Space have stagnated, while the Science and Technology ministry’s share in total Budget has improved slightly to 0.17%.

Allocations to all the schemes under the Space sector, as a share of total budget, have stagnated. 

Allocations for various social sectors such as health, rural development and education as a share of the total budget have stagnated or declined, with the social welfare sector being the only exception – whose share improved to 1.17% of the total budget in FY25BE.

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Outlays to schemes under social sectors such as MGNREGA, Samagra Shiksha, Ayushman Bharat, old age pension, widow pension, Swasthya Suraksha, have all declined in the recent years. Allocation to Ayushman Bharat has remained more or less the same in recent years after a sharp increase seen in FY23. 

The Transport sector on the other hand has formed a bulk of this year’s expenditure. Allocation to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) and the telecom department has remained consistently high. Allocations to the power sector too have improved marginally from last year. 

While the outlays to implement housing in urban & rural areas, and other basic amenities in urban areas improved marginally in FY25BE, allocations to smart city missions, as a share of the total Budget, has plunged. 

In FY25BE, the Railway Ministry outlay in the overall budget continued to be over the 5% mark. Allocations for the signalling and telecom works, under which KAVACH (automatic train collision system for trains) is included, increased compared with FY24RE

However, allocations for the Aviation Ministry which has remained consistently low in recent years declined marginally. The outlay for the Shipping Ministry has also stagnated.

Source: Budget Documents

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