On 23rd July, the Finance Minister - Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman presented the seventh consecutive budget, the highest for any finance minister in the history of India. The budget of 2024 has 4 major themes - 1) Education, Employment and Skilling, 2) MSMEs, 3) Farmers and Rural Development, 4) Middle Class. Now let us go over each of these point by point.
Education, Employment and Skilling : The government has launched a package of 5 schemes with an allocation of a whopping of Rs. 1.48 Lakh crore. The features of 5 schemes are as follows.
Scheme A (employee centric) : Under this scheme if the employee is registered under the EPFO (Employee Provident Fund Organisation) and he works in the formal sector for the first time then the employee gets 1 month compensation for salary paid.
Scheme B (Employer centric) : Under this scheme if the employer is registered under the EPFO (Employee Provident Fund Organisation) and he hires someone who has never worked in the formal sector then the employer gets reimbursement of 1 month salary.
Scheme C (Job Creation in Manufacturing) : Under this scheme if an employer creates new jobs in manufacturing then both the employee and employer will get incentive. An incentive will be provided at specified scale directly both to the employee and the employer with respect to their EPFO (Employee Provident Fund Organisation)contribution in the first 4 years of employment.
Scheme D (Women Empowerment) : Under this scheme the government will take steps to facilitate higher participation of women in the workforce by setting up women hostels and establishing crutches which will allow more women to work in this sector.
Scheme E (Skill Development) : Under this scheme government will allow more skill development in collaboration with state governments, Easing the process of taking educational loans, loans for gaining skills, etc.
MSME : As per the data presented in the budget over 65 Million MSMEs are operating in the country. Only 14% have access to credit. This budget has given special attention to MSMEs and their empowerment.
A credit Guarantee system has been established
Through this MSMEs will be able to get loans without collateral based on past performance.
No third party guarantee will be required when MSMEs take loans which will make credit more accessible.
If the loan is for Machine and equipment, paperwork and formalities will be completed faster than normal.
Credit History will play a major role in banks sanctioning loans to MSMEs
New Assessment Model for PSBs
Currently when companies/MSMEs apply for loans, banks rely upon third party assessment for sanctioning loans
Under this budget banks won’t rely entirely on third party assessment but also take into account the nature of business.
For eg. if a renewable energy business does not have good finances but it being in the industry of renewable energy it will get more priority than others.
Credit Support to MSMEs in stress period
MSMEs will get access to a special mentioned account with additional benefits.
These benefits will be given from a government promoted fund
The reason behind this is to promote MSMEs
Farmers & Rural Development : Agriculture this year has been given an allocation of Rs. 1.5 Lakh Crore. This year special emphasis has been given to two things amongst many- 1) Research & New Age Farming, 2) Natural Farming.
Research and New Age Farming
Development of new age seeds which have higher productivity and are not hard on the environment.
Crop Rotation is to be given more importance as it helps in increasing soil fertility and soil structure. Crop rotation helps return nutrients to the soil without synthetic inputs. The practice also works to interrupt pest and disease cycles, improve soil health by increasing biomass from different crops' root structures, and increase biodiversity on the farm.
India wants to remove its dependence on wheat and rice. So new seeds have been added to the MSP list.
109 HYV seeds and Horticulture seeds have been introduced and will be developed in due time.
Middle Class : To learn more about the policies introduced for Middle Class, you may visit :
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