BUDGET BOOST TO CONSUMPTION

Focus on jobs, MSMEs, rural sector and infrastructure is expected to fire up the domestic consumption engine amid slackening global growth.

- ASHUTOSH KUMAR

IN THE RUN-UP to general elections this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted on several occasions that the first 100-day agenda of his government will have an extra 25 days dedicated to the youth. Those 25 days seem to have been front-loaded in Budget 2024-25 with a ₹2 lakh crore job creation scheme, rural development, agriculture push, fillip to space sector, women-led development, and MSME support forming the foundation stones. The ultimate aim being to boost consumption and kick-start private investment, the two engines of the economy that badly needed a fillip.

“Turning attention to the full year and beyond, in this Budget, we particularly focus on employment, skilling, MSMEs, and the middle class. I am happy to announce the Prime Minister’s package of five schemes and initiatives to facilitate employment, skilling and other opportunities for 4.1 crore youth over a five-year period with a central outlay of ₹2 lakh crore,” finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman says in her Budget speech.

Apart from specific schemes on jobs, agriculture and rural development alone have received an allocation of ₹4.18 lakh crore for FY25, while ₹3 lakh crore has been set aside for women-led growth. “This year, I have made a provision of ₹1.52 lakh crore for agriculture and allied sector. I have made a provision of ₹2.66 lakh crore for rural development, including rural infrastructure,” says Sitharaman.

The government has made a provision of ₹1.58 lakh crore for education, employment and skilling for the current fiscal. For emerging sectors such as space, the Budget has announced setting up of a ₹1,000 crore venture capital fund. Public infrastructure spending, meanwhile, continues to remain in focus with FY25 allocation at ₹11.11 lakh crore, or 3.9% of GDP. The measures are expected to create a ripple effect in reviving the consumption engine of the economy.