Agencies
New Delhi
India’s finance minister unveiled $576 billion in spending plans in the current fiscal year on Tuesday, marginally higher than interim budget estimates, aiming to boost manufacturing and jobs in the world’s fastest growing major economy.
The government will spend 2.66 trillion rupees ($32 billion) on rural development, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, while unveiling new programmes in the annual budget for states led by two key allies who shore up Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s coalition government.
The budget spending estimate of 48.21 trillion rupees is 1.2 percent higher than the 47.66 trillion rupees estimate in the interim budget presented in February, helped by a bumper transfer of dividends from the central bank, while the fiscal deficit target was reduced to 4.9 percent of GDP.
The government will allocate 2 trillion rupees ($24 billion) for job creation over the next five years, Sitharaman said.
“In this budget, we particularly focus on employment, skilling, small businesses, and the middle class,”Sitharaman said.
The government will also implement reforms across factors of production, including land and labour, she said.
Subsequent budgets would continue to focus on those areas, Sitharaman said while presenting her seventhannual budget.
Despite the new spending, India cut its fiscal deficit target to 4.9 percent of gross domestic product in fiscal year ending on March 31, 2025, from 5.1 percent in February’s interim budget, helped by a large surplus of $25 billion from the central bank.
