 "capex, union budget, infrastructure")
The 2024 Interim Budget speech by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman underscored the government’s focus on fostering entrepreneurship and innovation. Notably, Ms Sitharaman announced the establishment of a Rs 1 trillion corpus to incentivise innovation and research in sunrise sectors. In this regard, our lead editorial notes that since large corporations in India are not short of cash, the new fund should be expected to help small new-age firms. To encourage higher activity in research, the government must work with the private sector to address their needs and concerns. Read here
In other views
It is time to set up a disinvestment ministry once again and delink it from the finance ministry. Disinvestment and privatisation should be a task that must be undertaken not by the finance ministry, but by a different ministry that has no obligation to raise more revenue to bridge the fiscal deficit, writes A K Bhattacharya. Read here
Harsh V Pant and Kartik Bommakanti note that the Indian Navy has been undertaking anti-piracy operations in the Red Sea region with significantly greater purpose than at any time since 2008. Read here
