Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman on July 23 announced her seventh consecutive budget. The presentation on July 23 was the first Budget by the BJP-led NDA government since it was re-elected in June.

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Ms. Sitharaman said that the Budget will focus on employment, skilling, MSME and middle class. An allocation of ₹1.48 lakh crore for education, employment and skill development was announced.

The Finance Minister laid down nine priorities of the Budget:

1. Productivity and resilience in agriculture
2. Employment and skilling
3. Inclusive Human resource development and social justice
4. Manufacturing and services
5. Support for promotion of MSMEs
6. Urban development
7. Energy security
8. Infrastructure
9. Innovation, research and development

Agriculture Budget

With regards to farming announcements, Ms. Sitharaman announced initiation of farmers into natural farming, achieving self sufficiency in pulses and oilseeds, development of digital public infrastructure, among other measures.

Employment and Education Budget

Ms. Sitharaman announced three new employee-linked incentive schemes in the Union Budget. The three schemes, which are part of the Prime Minister’s package, will align with enrolment in the Employee Provident Fund Organisation and focus on the recognition of first-time employees, as well as support to both employers and employees.

Students who have not yet benefited from any government schemes will get support loans of upto ₹10 lakh for education in domestic institutions. E-vouchers for this purpose will be provided directly to 1 lakh students each year for interest subvention of 3% of the loan amount.

A comprehensive scheme was announced for providing internships in 500 top companies to 1 crore youth in 5 years, where they will gain exposure for 12 months to real life business environment.

Bihar and Andhra Pradesh Budget

The finance minister announced several schemes for Bihar in her speech. The schemes are a part of a larger plan titled “Purvodaya”, which covers the all-round development of eastern States including Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh.

The government will support building of expressways in Bihar at a total cost of ₹26,000 crore. Power projects, new airports, medical colleges and sports infra will be also constructed in the state.

The Finance Minister made a series of announcements for Andhra Pradesh, which elected the NDA Government in the recently-concluded General Elections. Under the AP Reorganisation Act, for supporting industrial development, funds will be provided for supporting basic infrastructure like water, power and roads.

Budget for women

For promoting women-led development, the budget carries an allocation of over ₹3 lakh crore for schemes benefitting women and girls.

MSMEs Budget

The Budget further provides special attention to MSMEs and labour-intensive manufacturing. New assessment model for MSME credit by public sector banks, that will not rely on external assessment. This will be based on the digital footprint of MSMEs in the economy, rather than only on assets and turnover criteria

On personal income tax

The finance minister revised the tax slabs under the new regime. She told the House that as a result of these changes, a salaried employee would be able to save up to ₹17,500 in income taxes.

Whilst the rate of taxation remains unchanged, the size of each of the slabs, excluding the initial zero to ₹3 lakh, remains unchanged. The erstwhile slab of ₹3 lakh to ₹6 lakh would now be expanded to ₹3 lakh to ₹7 lakh. However, the rate of taxation, that is 5%, remains unchanged. Similarly, the other slabs, that is, ₹6 to 9 lakhs, ₹9 to 12 lakhs, ₹12-15 lakhs and thereby beyond, would be revised to ₹7-10 lakhs, ₹10-12 lakhs, ₹12-15 lakhs and thereby beyond.