New Delhi: Amid uproar in the House, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday gave a befitting reply to the Opposition members on the general Budget debate in Rajya Sabha, saying that the goals of the Union Budget 2025-26 is to accelerate growth, secure inclusive development, and invigorate private sector investments. Earlier, the finance minister also introduced the new Income Tax (I-T) Bill, 2025 in Lok Sabha, saying that the new I-T bill has not mere mechanical changes but substantial ones.
Highlighting the Centre’s reforms in the past, the finance minister also said that the government steered the economy very well during the Covid crisis, and the country emerged as the 5th largest major economy in the world. She also recalled after the global financial crisis of 2008, India was termed as among the ‘fragile five’ economies. “So for the Budget, we have kept our goals such that we are able to accelerate growth, secure inclusive development, invigorate private sector investments,” she said.
As per the first advance estimates, the government has projected India’s economy will grow by 6.4 per cent in real terms and 9.7 per cent in nominal terms. However, she said that the Budget was prepared during a challenging time, with serious external challenges beyond estimates or forecasts. “Despite this, the government has tried to keep the assessment as accurate as possible, keeping India’s interests paramount. There are no models that you can build and understand how the trends will be because they are very dynamic. We have tried keeping the assessments as close as possible, keeping India’s interests as topmost,” she said.
Rejecting some Opposition member’s claims on the government’s shift in focus away from capital expenditure, Sitharaman out-rightly replied that the Budget has not reduced sectoral allocations and the effective capital expenditure during the next fiscal is estimated at Rs 19.08 lakh crore. “The effective capital expenditure for the next fiscal year is projected to be at Rs 15.48 lakh crore as against Rs 13.18 lakh crore in revised estimate of FY25. “Including the outlay by public enterprises, the capex would be 19.80 lakh crore for the fiscal year 2025-26,” she added.
Earlier, the finance minister also introduced the new I-T Bill, 2025 in Lok Sabha, hoping that the bill will consolidate and amend the law relating to income tax. The much-anticipated bill will replace terminologies like assessment and previous year with easier-to-understand ‘tax year’ as part of a move to simplify language while removing provisos and explanations.
Digging at Opposition members on the changes made in the new bill, the finance minister replied that these were ‘not mere mechanical changes’ but substantial ones. “The Act in its current state has 819 sections that the MP should be using as the reference. From this 819, we are bringing it down to 536,” Sitharaman slammed an Opposition member in the House.
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