Budget focused on economic resilience, creates opportunities for all

It carefully allocates public resources and commits to reduce the country's fiscal debt

This year’s Interim Budget presents a pro-growth narrative that unites the country. In a strained macroeconomic environment, India carries a strong voice, emerging as a beacon of hope.  

The ongoing provisions to boost the country’s infrastructure through increasing public capital expenditure have played a significant role in shaping recent economic growth. India is now the country with the highest gross domestic product (GDP) growth among major world economies. From having only 74 airports a decade prior, the country has doubled the figure to 149. The outlay for raising capital expenditure by 11.1 per cent – making up 3.4 per cent of GDP – will extend logistics infrastructure to remote parts of the country and provide economic opportunities for consumers, investors and businesses.

 

Despite planning provisions for increased public expenditure, efforts to reduce the country’s fiscal debt are not ignored. In the Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has set a new target for decreasing the fiscal deficit in FY25, which will now be 5.1 per cent of GDP. This indicates a balanced long-term approach to strengthening the nation’s economy.

The Finance Minister said the government is focused on a more comprehensive definition of GDP: Governance, development and performance. This paradigm that adopts a citizen-first and trust-based administration draws the country closer to becoming a ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047. We look forward to the full Budget in July, which would present a more detailed roadmap towards this destiny.

In addition to this, the government will continue policies with people-centric inclusive development. One of the major elements of its multi-pronged approach is Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), being instrumental in formalisation of the economy. Continued efforts to support the growth of DPI will create more opportunities for India’s information technology giants, MSMEs and startups. Like digital payments and Aadhaar are easily accessible to anyone with a smartphone, we envision DPI to democratise other services such as education, skilling and medical assistance.

With the third largest startup ecosystem that is driving the digital transformation of the economy, the budget reinforced its commitment to supporting entrepreneurship. The government has proposed extending the tax benefits for startups and investments made by sovereign wealth or pension funds to March 31, 2025. Moreover, it is committed to driving home-grown innovation by establishing a corpus of Rs 1 trillion with a 50-year interest free loan for scaling up research in sunrise sectors.

Addressing the financial services sector, the Budget announced policies that will deliver long-term resilience. Laying out the strategy for Amrit Kaal, the government will adopt economic policies to sustain growth and create opportunities for all. One of the policy priorities will involve preparing the financial sector in terms of size, capacity, skills and regulatory framework.

Overall, the Budget stands as a testament to thorough planning, instilling optimism for the nation's future through careful allocation of public resources.

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The writer is the co-founder and chief executive officer of MobiKwik