Budget Live: Modi hails 'People's Budget'; Rahul says 'it will benefit only 25 people'
Presenting her 8th straight Budget in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman laid out a blueprint for next-generation reforms including raising FDI limit in insurance sector, simplification of tax laws
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday (February 1) provided a big relief to the middle class as she exempted annual income of up to Rs 12 lakh from income tax and rejigged tax slabs as part of her Budget 2025-26.
Also read: Budget 2025-26: What gets costlier, what is cheaper?
Presenting her eighth straight Budget in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman laid out a blueprint for next-generation reforms including raising FDI limit in insurance sector, simplification of tax laws, cutting duties on intermediaries while providing enhanced fiscal support for welfare measures.
Sitharaman said the government's development track record of the past 10 years and structural reforms have drawn global attention. A Viksit Bharat will have zero poverty, quality education, high-quality, affordable and comprehensive healthcare, she said and added that the Budget's focus is to take everyone together on inclusive growth path.
Also read: No income tax up to Rs 12 lakh: Know the revised slabs under new regime
Asserting that the Budget's focus is to take everyone together on an inclusive growth path, she said the proposed development measures span 10 broad areas, focusing on 'garib' (poor) youth, 'anna daata' (farmer) and 'nari' (woman), spurring agricultural growth and productivity, building rural prosperity and resilience.
Also read: Budget: Top 10 announcements: Cheer for farmers, women and gig workers
PM lauds Budget
Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the Union Budget as a "people's budget" that puts more money in the hands of people and said it is a force multiplier that will increase investments and lead to growth. Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi said, ''The Budget is a band-aid for bullet wounds, and the government is bankrupt of ideas.''
Later, addressing a public rally in Sadar Bazar in poll-bound Delhi, Rahul said, "The budget was presented today, the target of the budget was to benefit 25 people. They will give you a little, they will waive a little tax but if you see the target of the budget, is to provide India's money to 20-25 billionaires.
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Live Updates
- 1 Feb 2025 10:34 AM GMT
BJP President Nadda lauds PM Modi
On the Union Budget 2025, Union Minister and BJP National President JP Nadda said, "Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country is witnessing the journey of Viksit Bharat. In the last 10 years, the Prime Minister has tirelessly brought about 25 crore people out of poverty. Along with this, while providing great relief to the middle-class families of the country, the tax exemption has been increased to Rs 12 lakh. In this budget, special attention has been given to the skills of the youth, investment in agriculture and creation of employment options in rural areas...Along with the announcement of the construction of the Ramayana Circuit and Buddha Circuit, a provision of Rs 1.5 lakh crore has been made for the infrastructure development of the states..."
- 1 Feb 2025 9:53 AM GMT
Budget has nothing to address economy's 'illnesses': Congress
The Congress Saturday said the Union Budget has nothing to address the "illnesses" of stagnant real wages, lack of buoyancy in mass consumption, sluggish rates of private investment and a complicated GST system that the economy is suffering from.
It also took a swipe at the Narendra Modi government over its budget announcements, asking that while Bihar appears to have got a bonanza, why the other pillar of the NDA, Andhra Pradesh, has been so "cruelly ignored".
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "The economy is suffering from four related crises -- stagnant real wages, lack of buoyancy in mass consumption, sluggish rates of private investment, complex and complicated GST system." "The Budget does nothing to address these illnesses. The only relief has been for income tax payers. What actual impact this will have on the economy remains to be seen," he said on X.
Taking a swipe at the Centre over the Union Budget, the Congress also said while Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke of four engines of development, the Budget was "completely derailed".
In her Saturday budget speech, Sitharaman said agriculture, MSME, investments and exports are the four power engines of development.
Ramesh said, "The FM spoke of four engines: Agriculture, MSMEs, Investment, and Exports. So many engines that the Budget has been completely derailed." In another post, he said, "The BJP led by Arun Jaitley successfully sabotaged the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010, that international companies wanted when Dr Manmohan Singh was PM. Now to appease Mr Trump, the FM announces that the Act will be amended." Bihar remained in focus in the presentation of the Union Budget for the 2025-26 fiscal with Sitharaman making several announcements for the state, including setting up of a Makhana Board, financial support for western Kosi canal and support for enhancing capacity of IIT Patna.
Presenting her record eighth Union Budget in the Lok Sabha, the finance minister also announced that the Centre will establish a National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management in Bihar and also facilitate greenfield airports there to meet the future needs of the state.
Ramesh said Bihar appears to have got a bonanza of announcements.
"It is natural since elections are due there later in the year. But why is (has) the other pillar of the NDA, namely Andhra Pradesh, been so cruelly ignored?" Ramesh posed on X in an apparent reference to BJP allies JD(U) from Bihar and TDP from Andhra Pradesh.
The Congress leader also hit out at the government over announcements related to nutritional support programmes like Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0.
"The Finance Minister has announced the revision of cost norms in Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 -- after many years of turning down this demand. The FM has however not extended this announcement to -- inclusion of breakfast in schools; provision of a glass of milk, as is done in Karnataka through the Ksheera Bhagya Scheme; upward revision in the honorarium given to Anganwadi workers," he said.
"The Union Education and WCD ministries themselves have been pushing for these proposals for years, only to be turned down by the finance ministry. What kind of investment in people is the finance minister envisioning without these basic provisions?" Ramesh said.
Sitharaman announced that cost norms for nutritional support programmes like Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 will be enhanced in the Union Budget 2025-26.
She said Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 programmes provide nutritional support to over 8 crore children, 1 crore pregnant and lactating women, and 20 lakh adolescent girls in aspirational districts and the northeast region.
The Congress also attacked the Union government over its announcements in the Budget pertaining to the agriculture sector, saying the Finance Minister was "completely silent" on the demands of farmers, including MSP as a legal guarantee and farm loan waiver.
Hitting out at the government, Ramesh said in a post on X, "The FM starts with agriculture but is completely silent on the demands of farmers and the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture -- MSP as a legal guarantee, farm loan waiver, inflation indexation of PM Kisan payouts and reforms to PM Fasal Bima Yojana." In another post, he said, "Make in India that had become Fake in India now has a new name: National Manufacturing Mission."
- 1 Feb 2025 9:26 AM GMT
Kejriwal: 'Disappointed that billionaire loan waiver proposal ignored in Budget'
AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said he was disappointed that his suggestion to end loan waiver for billionaires and spend the saved money on the middle class and farmers was not met in the Union budget 2025-26.
Kejriwal in a post on X said a large portion of the public exchequer is spent on these waivers.
"I am disappointed this was not done," he said in the post.
Presenting her eighth straight Budget in the Lok Sabha, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman laid out a blueprint for "next-generation" reforms, including raising the FDI limit in the insurance sector and simplification of tax laws.
- 1 Feb 2025 9:24 AM GMT
Budget more about political interests than people: Mayawati
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Saturday said that the BJP government's Budget, like that of the Congress previously, seems to be more about political interests and less about the people and the country.
In a post on X in Hindi, Mayawati said, "Due to the tremendous impact of inflation, poverty, and unemployment in the country, along with lack of basic amenities like roads, water, and education, people's lives in India which has a huge population of about 140 crore are quite troubled, which needed to be resolved through the Union Budget." But the Budget presented by the BJP government, like those by the Congress previously, seems to be more about political interests and less about the people and the country, she said.
"If this is not the case, why are the lives of people continuously troubled, miserable and unhappy under this government? The dream of a 'Viksit Bharat' should also be in the interest of the Bahujans," she added.
