Given that we are just months away from the Lok Sabha elections, this will be an interim budget, to lay down the government’s expenditure priorities for the April-June 2024 quarter.
Bengaluru: At 11 am on Thursday , Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will rise to present the interim budget for the coming financial year (2024-25). This will be her sixth consecutive budget speech, a feat only achieved by the late Morarji Desai.
Given that we are just months away from the Lok Sabha elections, this will be an interim budget, to lay down the government’s expenditure priorities for the April-June 2024 quarter. The full budget for the year is likely to be presented in July, after government formation.
“The upcoming pre-election interim budget occurs at a juncture when the overall economic landscape appears stable. This is underpinned by the easing of financial conditions, robust macroeconomic data,” said Rajani Sinha, Chief Economist at CareEdge.
“Nonetheless, the current budgeting exercise is also confronted by economic headwinds like deceleration in the global economy, pressures in the agriculture sector, and strains on the rural economy,” Sinha said.
While the Indian economy has shown remarkable resilience since the Covid-19 pandemic, a large part of the growth has been driven by government expenditure on infrastructure and rural programmes, and on schemes aimed at boosting manufacturing.