FICCI, Corporates hail interim Budget, say its a clear continuum towards Viksit Bharat

New Delhi [India], February 1 : Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) President Dr Anish Shah has termed the Intermin Budget 2024-25 as a clear and outcome-based continuum towards Viksit Bharat.
"The Interim Budget is a clear and outcome-based continuum towards Viksit Bharat. It brings together growth, climate, and social empowerment while maintaining a careful balance between current investment rate and fiscal discipline," said Anish Shah.
"Enabling States to adopt reforms for Viksit Bharat will seize the momentum created from the Centre towards Amrit Kaal. Focus on Blue Economy, expanding and strengthening the EV ecosystem, domestic tourism, and multi-modal logistics will propel India towards the vision of a developed nation by 2047," he said.
"The Interim Budget recognizes innovation as a key driver for growth through the introduction of a significant corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore for offering a fifty-year interest-free loan to scale up R&D in sunrise domains. The fiscal performance bodes well for the country's macroeconomic stability and investor confidence," he added.
Kamal Bali, President and MD, Volvo Group India said the Bugdet was bold and inclusive.
"I think the Budget is very bold, very inclusive, very pragmatic and touching all sectors of the economy & all sections of society. So, from that point of view and considering that it was an Interim Budget, I think the FM has done an outstanding job. I say bold because it is actually looking at fiscal deficit which, in the current year, is going to be at 5.8% instead of 5.9% which is better than the original budget. In the coming year, this has been pegged at 5.1% instead of 5.4%. So, to my mind that is a very bold measure and a very responsible measure. That will help to tame inflation. So, that is something very good" Kamal Bali said.
Executive Director of the IMF and former Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India said, "Overall, that is how I would assess it - judicious on the fiscal front, non-populace because it is more of the same and visionary because many other steps on innovation and CapEx etc."
Shobana Kamineni, Executive Vice Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise hailed the women centric outlook in the budget
"It was a sharp budget. It like that FDI is First Develop India. If you want to develop India, women have to be developed. With this, health has to be a focus. Both these were covered quite well for an Interim Budget. I have to applaud it that they moved forward in saying that let's make sure that we educate more women...Cervical cancer - we can talk but who is going to do it?...I think the intent is important" Shobana Kamineni said.
Director, Medanta Medicity, Dr Naresh Trehan said, "...A lot of emphasis on anganwadis, women's health, vaccination for young girls against cervical cancer. All these things are very important addition to what we have. But more importantly, offering of Ayushman coverage for Anganwadi workers and ASHA workers is a big move. I think that will go down very well and boost the morale of our frontline health workers...I think overall, a lot of our expectations about medical education, increasing the number of medical colleges and the other facilities for the paramedical personnel is excellent..."
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the Interim Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament "inclusive and innovative".
PM Modi, in his first post-budget remarks, said that the Interim Budget empowers the four pillars of Viksit Bharat.
"This interim budget is inclusive and innovative. It has confidence in continuity. It will empower all four pillars of Viksit Bharat: Yuva, Garib, Mahila and Kisan. This Budget gives the guarantee of making India a developed nation by 2047," PM Modi said.
"This budget is a reflection of the young aspirations of a young India. Two important decisions were made within the Budget. For research and innovation, a fund of Rs 1 lakh crore has been announced," he added.
The interim budget, tabled today, will take care of the financial needs of the intervening period until a government is formed after the Lok Sabha polls after which a full budget will be presented by the new government in July.
With this Budget Presentation, Sitharaman equalled the record set by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, who as finance minister, presented five annual budgets and one interim budget between 1959 and 1964.
As expected and in relief for the citizens, the central government neither tweaked nor put any additional tax burden on citizens, in the interim Budget for 2024-25 tabled by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
"Keeping with the convention, I do not propose to make any changes relating to taxation and propose to retain the same tax rates for direct taxes and indirect taxes including import duties," Sitharaman said in her Budget speech on Thursday.
However, certain tax benefits to start-ups and investments made by sovereign wealth or pension funds as well as tax exemption on certain income of some IFSC units are expiring in March 2024. To provide continuity in taxation, she proposed to extend the date by another year.
Moreover, in line with the government's vision to improve ease of living and ease of doing business, she announced to improve tax-payer services.
"There are a large number of petty, non-verified, non-reconciled or disputed direct tax demands, many of them dating as far back as the year 1962, which continue to remain on the books, causing anxiety to honest tax-payers and hindering refunds of subsequent years," she said.
Presenting the Union Budget 2023, Sitharaman on Thursday pegged the fiscal deficit target for 2024-25 at 5.1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).
In 2023-24, the government pegged the fiscal deficit target for 2023-24 at 5.9 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). Today, Sitharaman said that the fiscal deficit of 2023-24 was downwardly revised to 5.8 per cent.