India's BJP-led government set to present annual budget

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) – India needs to continue to focus on agriculture, defense, education, infrastructure and social infrastructure, an expert said as the government is set to propose its budget in parliament on Tuesday.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will propose the budget for the financial year 2024-2025. This will be the first budget of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government since the ruling coalition returned to power for a third term last month.

Jaijit Bhattacharya, president of the Centre for Digital Economy Policy Research, told Anadolu that India “urgently needs action” for mitigating the impact of “climate change, creating irrigation facilities, enhanced food storage facilities, factory-based food production, flood resistant cities etc.”

The government needs to continue promoting local industry through steps such as an increase in the customs duty on products “so that domestic industry grows in such critical areas, and defense will continue to require more investments due to heightened geopolitical challenges,” he said.

In addition, Bhattacharya said money should be allocated to technology creation in India.

The Indian government last year presented a 45 trillion Indian rupee ($537.8 billion) budget, hiking its defense allocation by nearly 13%.

Asked if the demands of the coalition partners would be met, Bhattacharya said they “will be met to an extent, as these demands are developmental in nature and would lead to industrial development and job creation.”

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost its majority in parliament and is supported by smaller parties.

The budget “will continue in the same trend as earlier, with further attempts to reduce the fiscal deficit and strengthen the economy,” Bhattacharya said, adding “there appears to be food inflation, and there would be steps to address the same.”

“There will also be a focus on strengthening the safety net for the vulnerable sections of society,” he said.

India’s real GDP is projected to grow between 6.5% to 7% in 2024-25 and the Indian economy recovered swiftly from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Economic Survey for last year presented Monday in parliament showed.

Economic expert Abhijit Mukhopadhyay told Anadolu that the budget is probably going to be "business as usual.”

There will be “some social welfare schemes (with not-so-generous outlays, but) with lots of propaganda noise and aggressive reform with fiscal consolidation (read lower fiscal deficit targets) by cutting long-term social sector spending in areas like health and education,” he said.