New Delhi, NFAPost: In a big boost to startups and emerging new technology sector, the Union Government proposes to create a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore to boost private investment in sunrise technologies. Presenting the Interim Budget 2024-25 in Parliament on Thursday, the Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that this will mark a golden era for our tech savvy youth.
The corpus will be established with fifty-year interest free loan. It will provide long-term financing or refinancing with long tenors and low or nil interest rates.
“This will encourage the private sector to scale up research and innovation significantly in sunrise domains. We need to have programmes that combine the powers of our youth and technology,” the finance minister said. She also proposed a new scheme to be launched for strengthening deep-tech technologies for defence purposes and expediting ‘atmanirbharta’.
Technological Changes
Pointing out that new age technologies and data are changing the lives of people and businesses, the finance minister said that they are also enabling new economic opportunities and facilitating provision of high-quality services at affordable prices for all, including those at ‘bottom of the pyramid’.
Stating that opportunities for India at the global level are expanding, Sitharaman said, “India is showing solutions through innovation and entrepreneurship of its people.”
Research & Innovation
Stressing that research and innovation will catalyze India’s growth, generate employment and lead to development, Sitharaman said that Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri gave the slogan of “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan” and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee made that “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan Jai Vigyan”.
“Prime Minister Modi has furthered that to “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan Jai Vigyan and Jai Anusandhan”, as innovation is the foundation of development,” she said.
Significant boost to Capital Expenditure Outlay
Union Finance Minister said that the Capital Expenditure outlay for 2024-25 is being increased by 11.1 per cent to eleven lakh, eleven thousand, one hundred and eleven crore rupees (₹ 11,11,111 crore). This amounts to 3.4% of GDP. In addition, she mentioned that the massive tripling of the CapEx over the last 4 years is resulting in huge multiplier impact on economic growth and employment creation.
“The Revised Estimate of the total receipts other than borrowings is ₹ 27.56 lakh crore, of which the tax receipts are ₹ 23.24 lakh crore. The Revised Estimate of the total expenditure is ₹ 44.90 lakh crore,” she said.
Talking about the revenue receipts, she said that the revenue receipts at ₹ 30.03 lakh crore are expected to be higher than the Budget Estimate, reflecting strong growth momentum and formalization in the economy.
She further mentioned that notwithstanding moderation in the nominal growth estimates, the Revised Estimate of the fiscal deficit stood at 5.8 per cent of GDP, improving upon the Budget Estimate.
Budget Estimates 2024-25
In 2024-25, the total receipts other than borrowings are estimated to be ₹ 30.80 lakh crore and the total expenditure is estimated at ₹ 47.66 lakh crore. The tax receipts are estimated at ₹ 26.02 lakh crore.
Further, Union Finance Minister said, “the scheme of fifty-year interest free loan for capital expenditure to states will be continued this year with total outlay of ₹1.3 lakh crore”.
Nirmala Sitharaman said the fiscal deficit in 2024-25 is estimated to be 5.1% of GDP. Adhering to the path of fiscal consolidation as mentioned in her Union Budget speech for 2021-22, she mentioned to reduce it below 4.5 per cent by 2025-26.
During 2024-25, gross and net market borrowings through dated securities are estimated at ₹ 14.13 lakh crore and ₹ 11.75 lakh crore respectively. While talking about the increase in private investments, she said, adding that “lower borrowings by the Central Government will facilitate larger availability of credit for the private sector”.
