Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Credit: PTI Photo
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present the Interim Union Budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 on February 1. This budget is unlikely to have any major announcements as it will only be an interim one. The government that comes to power after winning the upcoming Lok Sabha elections will be presenting the full budget of the next financial year.
The last budget had some major announcements including the change in income tax slabs and a massive increase in capex investments.
In this article, we will compare the 2023-24 budget’s allocations for all the major ministries with the year before that, 2022-23.
Almost all major ministries saw a budget increase last year, with the Railways seeing a substantial rise in its allocation.
Around eight per cent of India’s Budget is usually allocated for defence. The defence budget for the year gone by was set at close to Rs 6 lakh crore, precisely Rs 5,93,537 crore. This was a slight increase of Rs 68,371 crore from the previous year’s allocation.
The Road Transport and Highways Ministry got over Rs 2.7 lakh crore and was the second-biggest receiver. This was a big rise from the year 2022-23 when this ministry was allocated a little less than Rs 2 lakh crore.
The Railway Ministry was a big winner in the last budget gaining almost Rs 1 lakh crore as compared to its 2022-23 allocation.
Money for the Chemical and Fertilizers sector also increased from Rs 1.07 lakh crore to Rs 1.78 lakh crore in the year 2023-24.
Other sectors saw just a minor increase in their kitties.
The Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ministry was the solitary loser in terms of allocation. While it received Rs 2.17 lakh crore in 2022-23, the ministry got only around Rs 2 lakh crore in the last budget.