Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman presented the Narendra Modi government’s first full-fledged budget after the NDA secured third consecutive win.
The Budget mentioned net tax receipts for 2024-25 at ₹25.83 lakh crore, while the expenditure is estimated at 48.21 lakh crore.
The majority of money comes from borrowing and other liabilities (27%), followed by income tax (19%) and GST & other taxes (18%), with other sources including non-debt taxes and corporation tax.
Ms. Sitaraman stated that taxpayers appreciate the simplified New Tax Regime without exemptions or deductions for corporate tax and personal income tax. “58% of corporate tax came from the simplified tax regime in the financial year 2022-23. Similarly, as per data available till now for the last fiscal, more than two-thirds have availed of the new personal income tax regime,” she added.
The government allocates 21% of its budget to the State’s portion of taxes and duties, followed by interest payments at 19%.
While 16% of its Budget is utilised for Central sector schemes, excluding capital outlays on defence and subsidies, only 4% of the fund has been used for pensions. To address the issues regarding the New Pension Scheme (NPS), the FM said, “a solution will be evolved which addresses the relevant issues while maintaining fiscal prudence to protect the common citizens”.
