Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget for 2021-22 on Monday. Sitharaman is expected to announce measures to revive the pandemic-hit economy with focus on higher spending on healthcare, infrastructure and defence. This will be the ninth budget under the Modi government and Sitharaman's third so far with first being delivered in 2019 after BJP's retained the power. Sitharaman in her speech is also expected to widely focus on boosting spending on job creation and rural development, generous allocations for development schemes, putting more money in the hands of the average taxpayer and easing rules to attract foreign investments. Sitharaman, who had in her first budget in 2019 replaced leather briefcase that had been for decades used for carrying budget documents with a traditional red cloth 'bahi-khata', had earlier this month stated that the budget for the fiscal year beginning April will be "like never before". Meanwhile, PM Narendra Modi has exuded confidence that the Budget will be seen as part of the packages announced by Sitharaman over the past 10 months to offset the impact of Covid-induced lockdowns. Earlier on Friday, Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey for 2020-21. The document pegged the real GDP to be at 11 per cent in the next fiscal. Also, this year for the first time, the Union Budget will only be available in the digital format and can also be accessed through mobile app UNION BUDGET both on android and iOS platforms.from IndiaTV Business: Google News Feed https://ift.tt/3j2MrOm
0 Comments