Budget 2024: The budget session of Parliament started from today. Addressing the House at 11 am, President Draupadi Murmu said that the MSME sector has created lakhs of jobs in the country. Meanwhile, before Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents the interim budget, former NITI Aayog Chairman Rajiv Kumar has given some advice to the government. He said the government needs to continue its focus on capital expenditure in the upcoming interim budget as private investment is ‘still weak’. He said that there is a need to bridge the infrastructure gap, which is affecting the Indian economy. He said the increase in capital expenditure during the tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is resulting in better quality of infrastructure and this was much needed to make Indian industry globally competitive.
There is also a need to overcome the lack of infrastructure
Rajiv Kumar said that the Finance Minister will also achieve the fiscal consolidation target with increasing indirect tax revenue and increasing direct tax base. The emphasis on capital expenditure will continue as private investment still remains a bit weak. We also need to address the infrastructure deficit, which has affected our economy. Also, there is a need to address the logistics cost which is very high and can be met only by increasing public capital expenditure.
Interim budget will be presented tomorrow
Former NITI Aayog chairman Rajiv Kumar said a significant improvement in the tax-to-GDP ratio, coupled with increased capital expenditure, will still enable the finance minister to maintain the smooth path to fiscal consolidation that was announced last year. He said that I think both can be achieved. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the interim budget in the Lok Sabha on February 1. An interim budget is presented by the government to meet the expenses for the April-July period before the general elections.
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