GDP redefined: 'Governance, development, performance'

Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday presented a record sixth Budget, which she said adhered to the tradition of pre-election interim Budget, yet made a broad announcement of an action plan reflecting the confidence of the Narendra Modi government to return to power to implement them.

Sitharaman, along with officers, addressed media queries on Budget proposals. Edited excerpts by FE's Prasanta Sahu: Will the government continue with fiscal prudence or go populist? We have largely kept Vote on Account as Vote on Account.

That also showed how the economy will be moving forward and what's our plan for it. Who are we going to aim at in July when we come back to present a budget? Who are the sections that will be addressed and what are the kinds of investments we will make? We are very clearly showing that on capital expenditure, we are showing an increasing growth. More money is being put in for innovation and so on.

Social justice is an effective and necessary governance model. The Prime Minister has emphasised the four castes: the poor, the women, the youth, and the anna data (farmers).

Why is the capex growth modest for the next financial year? You got used to about 30%- 33% growth from a low base and 11% on a high base is low? More than 11 trillion was provided for capital expenditure. When the private sector didn't come in, we still fully came. Now we are seeing signs of the private sector also coming in.

Are fiscal numbers realistic? We have taken a 10.5% nominal growth rate for FY25 and an 11.5% revenue growth rate, which is buoyancy of less than 1.1.This year, we have achieved over 12% growth in taxes, with a nominal growth of 8.9%.

So, I think a very conservative buoy-