Rural India's Budget expectations

There is a need to reduce stress in agriculture and increase demand to ensure sustainable growth

The performance of agriculture and the rural economy is important as around 70 per cent of the population and workforce reside in rural areas. Increasing their purchasing power is crucial for creating demand in the entire economy. In this context, let’s examine the present state of agriculture, rural economy, and expectations from the interim Budget for 2024-25.

Indian agriculture has done well, with an average annual growth rate of 4.4 per cent in the past six years (2017-18 to 2022-23) including Covid-19 years. However, the first advance estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) for FY24 indicate a dismal seven-year low