Budget balances growth, welfare, says FM, attacks Congress on inflation during UPA

“This budget strikes a fine balance among several overriding priorities…growth, employment, welfare spending, capital investments and fiscal consolidation are all equally given a place. I had promised in this House in 2021-22 that the government will endeavour to attain a fiscal deficit to the GDP level below 4.5% by the year 2025-26… and we are well on track to attain that target,” she said.

On the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme, she said it remains attractive for the manufacturing sector. “Together with the PLI incentive given for mobiles, India produced 97% of all mobile phones in demand in the country and 30% of production has gone for exports exclusively,” she said.

Responding to former Finance minister P Chidambaram’s demand to scrap the Agnipath scheme, Sitharaman said it was brought to keep the armed forces “battle-ready, young and fit”. “I am sure the former Finance Minister, who also served as Home Minister, understands the nuances in national security. One of the expected outcomes of the scheme is that armed forces will have a much younger force by recruiting those in the age group of 17.5-21 and retaining only 25%, reducing the average age of the Army,” she said.

Attacking the Congress on inflation during the UPA regime, she said that reckless policies and inept measures led to double digit inflation during that period. “Domestic inflation used to be higher than the global average,” she said.

Comparing the inflation rates during the NDA and UPA years, Sitharaman said that the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had left behind a strong economy in which the inflation rate was 3% and it rose to 8.1% during the UPA regime. “Over the last decade, India’s average inflation was 5.1%, lower than the average of 5.8% among emerging economies. Congress means mehengai. Even the common man knows and says Congress aayi, megengai laayi (Congress comes, brings inflation).”

On the measures taken by the government to provide relief to consumers, she said the government has reduced excise on fuel and alleged that Congress-ruled state governments did not reduce tax on fuel prices. “Every state tried to reduce fuel prices. For political point scoring, Congress states did not, inflation there is higher. The first thing their government did in Himachal Pradesh was increase the fuel prices. Here they ask to contain inflation, there they increase it,” she said.

Emphasising that financial position of the UT of J&K has improved, she said that unlike other UTs, J&K is plagued by external terrorism and there was a historical legacy of “poor governance and low revenue base”, which had created a situation of “near perpetual distress and dependence on the Union government”.

“The J&K bank has made a remarkable turnaround. From a loss of Rs 1,139 crore in 2019-20, it has made a profit of Rs 1,700 crore in 2023-24. This is the kind of turnaround and efficiency with which the bank is now being run professionally,” she said.