Modi government presents interim budget ahead of Indian elections

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government presented an interim budget Thursday for 2024 - 2025, ahead of general elections.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said capital expenditure outlay for the next fiscal will be increased to 3.4 % of the gross domestic product, which is more than $130 billion.

Federal budget spending is estimated at 47.66 trillion rupees ($575 billion), said the minister.

The government proposed no changes to taxes but Sitharaman said the government will launch a scheme to help deserving sections of the middle class “living in rented houses, or slums, or chawls and unauthorized colonies” to buy or build their own houses.

The Defense Ministry received the highest allocation in the budget and linked a 4.7% increase in funding to $71.5 billion of allocations last year to the “current geopolitical scenario and with the twin objective of promoting self-reliance and exports.”

Modi called the budget an “inclusive and innovative” one.

“This budget will empower all four pillars of ‘Viksit Bharat’ -- youth, the poor, women, and farmers,” he said.

Viksit Bharat is the government's plan to transform India into a developed nation by the year 2047.

India is set to hold general elections in the coming months.

The budget, which was an interim one and according to the government, the new government will propose a new full budget for the remainder of the year.

The fiscal year in India runs from April to March.