Post-Budget LIVE: FM dismissed inflation ‘in 10 words’: Chidambaram in RS

The Budget includes various initiatives to financially empower small and medium-scale industries, which play a crucial role in generating employment, Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy said on Wednesday.

In her Budget speech on Tuesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a slew of measures for sectors including infrastructure, manufacturing, healthcare, education, startups, and green energy, among others.

“This Budget envisages sustained efforts and ample opportunities for all. It includes initiatives to financially empower small and medium-scale industries, which play a crucial role in generating employment. It is a visionary and far-reaching Budget,” the Minister for Steel said in a statement.

In the Budget, nine priority areas have been identified with Rs 1.48 lakh crore allocated for education, employment, and skills development. The goal is to create 4 crore jobs, ensuring better utilisation of human resources, Kumaraswamy, who also holds the portfolio of Union Minister for Heavy Industries, said.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw asserted on Wednesday that West Bengal is getting more money from the Centre now than when Mamata Banerjee held the portfolio in the Congress-led UPA government, stressing that train accidents have now come down by 60%.

On a day Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee slammed the BJP-led NDA government in the Lok Sabha over the recent train accidents and the Union Budget presented on Tuesday, Vaishaw said his ministry has focussed on technology, operational changes and training to significantly improve safety.

Compared to the UPA, train accidents have reduced by 60%, Vaishnaw said.

Hitting back at the opposition leader, the minister also accused the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led government in the state of not fully cooperating with his ministry for the implementation of rail projects and saying land acquisition is a major problem in West Bengal.

Briefing reporters on the Railways’ allocations related to the three eastern states of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, he said they are at a record high. The average allocation under the UPA was Rs 4,380 crore for West Bengal and it is Rs 13,941 crore for 2024-25. Work on rail projects worth Rs 60,000 crore are on in the state, he said.

Under the Amrit Bharat scheme, 100 railway stations in the state will be redeveloped, he said.

In Jharkhand, he said, the average allocation under the last five years of the UPA government was Rs 457 crore. It has now risen by 16 times to Rs 7,302 crore, Vaishnaw added. Work on rail projects worth Rs 52,885 crore are on in the state, while 57 stations are being redeveloped, he said.

In Bihar, the minister said the allocation for rail works stands at Rs 10,033 crore, and rail projects worth Rs 79,000 are being implemented currently.

Asked about passengers often facing the issue of long waiting lists in states like Bihar, especially during festivals, he said the ministry has been working to expand the rail network and will run special trains to help passengers.

Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday said Rs 15,940 crore has been allocated in the Union Budget for railways in Maharashtra, claiming that this amount is 13.5 times the average outlay during the UPA years, which was Rs 1,171 crore.

“It is almost a proper special package,” the railway minister said.

Claiming that the investment in various railway works and projects in Maharashtra is nearly Rs 1,30,000 crore, Vaishnaw called their progress in the state “very nice”. Of this, Rs 81,500 crore is being spent on laying new lines, track doubling and Gati Shakti work, he said.

He said the 508-km-long bullet project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad should not be considered a normal transport project, stressing that it will have a multiplier impact on the economy of the cities on its route.

About 320 km of viaducts of the bullet train project are ready, and the work on the 21-km-long undersea tunnel and the underground station at Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) is going on at full pace, he said.

The railway minister said they have planned to add 250 more services to Mumbai’s suburban system in the next five years. The Central Railway and Western Railway now run 3,200 services daily in the metropolis and ferry more than 70 lakh commuters.

Vaishnaw said the increase in the number of services would be achieved through 10 projects focusing on reducing “headway between two trains to 150 seconds from current 180 seconds, reducing cross movement of trains and segregation of suburban and long-distance train traffic”.

Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra on Wednesday said the idea behind changes in the capital gains tax on investments in listed equities is to encourage retail investors to hold on to their investments for a longer period of time.

The 2024-25 Budget has hiked short-term capital gains tax (STCG) on listed equity, equity-oriented mutual funds and units of a business trust to 20%, from 15%.

Long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax on these securities, too, has been hiked to 12.5% from 10%. LTCG up to Rs 1.25 lakh annually will be exempt from tax, up from Rs 1 lakh previously. Equities held for more than one year is considered as long term.

Malhotra further said the proposal will not hurt small investors holding onto shares for over one year as the LTCG exemption limit has been hiked in the Budget.

“We would encourage people to hold on to these shares for longer period of time because that is investment. Second, this increase impinges mostly on the higher incomes, not on the middle- and lower-income category. The benefit of Rs 1.25 lakh exemption for LTCG helps middle and low-income categories,” Malhotra told PTI.

He further said the hike in securities transaction tax (STT) on futures and options (F&O) will send a message to retail investors to stay away from such speculative trades.

“While we do believe that this will not fully curb this speculative instinct, but this is still a message to retail investors to stay away from F&Os as some study by Sebi shows 9 out of 10 investors in F&O actually lose money,” Malhotra said.

STT on the sale of an option in securities has been hiked from 0.0625% to 0.1% of the option premium in the FY25 Budget, and on sale of a futures from 0.0125% to 0.02% of the price, at which such futures are traded.

The Railway Ministry is now conducting a feasibility study and final location survey of the two alignments proposed for the Sabari railway line, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said on Wednesday.

Addressing the media via a video conference from New Delhi, Vaishnaw said the Union Budget has allocated Rs 3,011 crore for ongoing Railway projects in Kerala, which, according to him, is eight times more than what was allocated during the UPA regime.

He said with regard to the Sabari railway line, the alignment between Angamaly and Erumeli and the second alignment from Chengannur to Pamba are being studied, and the line that is more feasible will be selected.

“There will not be any dearth of funds for the development of railway projects in Kerala. I request the state government’s cooperation in acquiring land for the completion of the projects. We need 459 hectares of land for the track expansion works,” Vaishnav said.

The minister said the DPR for the tunnel railway connection between Vizhinjam Port and Balaramapuram railway station is also being considered, and final approval will be given.

In order to solve the high demand for general coaches, the minister said 2,500 new general coaches are being made available this year, and 10,000 more such coaches will be made available across the country in the next two to three years.

The minister said no new trains or new projects have been proposed in the Budget, but fund allocation has been improved.

The Budget allocation for the higher education department in 2024-25 has increased by more than 6% from last year to over Rs 47,600 crore, the Union Ministry of Education said on Wednesday.

The clarification from the ministry came following reports that the Budget allocation for higher education has decreased this year.

“The budget for Department of Higher Education for the Financial Year 2024-25 is Rs 47,619 crore, an increase of Rs 2,875 crore (6.43%) over RE 2023-24,” it said.

The ministry noted that the Statement of Budget Estimates (SBE) issued by the Union ministry of finance stated that the Revised Estimate for the department in the last financial year was Rs 57,244 crore, which indicated a decrease in the Budget Estimate this year by over Rs 9,600 crore.

“The notes to the Budget statement indicate that an additional amount of Rs 12,500 crore was transferred to Madhyamik and Uchhatar Shiksha Kosh (MUSK) during RE 2023-24,” it said.

“Thus, an amount of Rs 12,500 Cr has been provided in RE 2023-24 which was not to be actually utilized during FY 2023-24. Therefore, the actual RE allocation in the FY 2023-24 for higher education was Rs 44,744 crore,” the ministry added.

The Budget allocation for school education is Rs 73,498 crore, the highest-ever for the Department of School Education and Literacy, registering an increase of more than 19% over last year.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva on Wednesday countered Delhi minister Atishi’s charge that the Union Budget has “betrayed” Delhi, and accused the AAP of “misleading” the people of the city.

Addressing a press conference here, Sachdeva said the Kejriwal government has alleged that there was a deduction in Delhi's health budget, but in reality, the allocation has increased by 12.59 per cent.

“To give relief to the people of Delhi from traffic issues, the Union government has already spent Rs 30,000 crore on various projects... more projects worth Rs 35,000 crore are underway. The AAP, however, is doing cheap politics and misleading the people of Delhi,” he said.

He charged that the AAP government never said a word on the Pradhan Mantri AWAS Yojana that was stalled by it. Had it been implemented in Delhi, more than 5 lakh people from the economically weaker section would have got a permanent house till now, he added.

All the developmental work done by the Union government in the city, like Bharat Mandapam, Yashobhumi, and Pragati Maidan Tunnel among others are benefitting the people of Delhi, but Atishi will not talk about it, the Delhi BJP president said.

“Their (AAP) habit is to lie all the time, but the people of Delhi know the truth,” he said.

Bharat Mandapam and Yashobhoomi are state-of-the-art convention-cum-exhibition centres in Delhi.

Reacting to the Union Budget tabled in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Atishi said it had “betrayed” the people of the national capital who paid more than Rs 2 lakh crore in taxes to the BJP-led central government.

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Wednesday said the Union Budget will lead to the corporatisation of agriculture and alleged that it also provides for a “backdoor entry” to the provisions of the three farm laws, which were repealed nearly two years ago.

Addressing a virtual press conference, Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) leaders said the budget, presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, did not have any provisions for improving the situation of farmers, and they will burn copies of the Budget as a protest.

“There is nothing for farmers in the Budget. It is the same as last year...,” Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait said.

Stating that the SKM is not opposed to any states getting funds, he said while Bihar has been given financial packages, the agriculture sector has been ignored, and there are no provisions for creating a strong “mandi” system in the state.

Ashish Mittal of the All India Kisan Maha Sabha (AIKMS) pointed out that the announcement related to natural farming in the Budget may lead to a decline in production, as happened in the case of Sri Lanka.

“They are going to train one crore farmers for natural farming. The problem is it will lead to a reduction in production. A similar move in Sri Lanka had led to the food crisis there,” he added.

Jai Kisan Andolan leader Avik Saha said the Budget was trying to provide a “backdoor entry” to the provisions of farm laws.

“Farmers are almost invisible in the Budget. It is trying to give a backdoor entry to the farm laws,” he noted.

In a statement issued after the press conference, the SKM appealed for the widest unity of all sections, including farmers, workers, women, youth, and students, to rally and build massive struggles across India against the Budget.

“SKM appeals to the farmers across India to conduct widespread campaigns and protest in the villages and burn the copies of this anti-people pro-corporate Budget,” SKM said.

The farmers’ organisation said a tax exemption of 5 per cent was declared for MNCs, and the government is not ready to tax the corporates and super-rich, while 67 per cent of the GST collected as indirect tax is from 50 per cent of the poor population.

They also said the Budget has neglected the long pending demands of the farmers for MSP at C2+50 per cent formula with guaranteed procurement.