New Delhi, Feb 9:
The Parliament on Thursday gave its nod to the Modi government’s interim Budget with Rajya Sabha returning the Finance Bill 2024 and related appropriation bills after discussion.
The Jammu and Kashmir Appropriation Bill, 2024 was also returned.
The Lok Sabha in its sitting on Wednesday approved the Finance Bill and other appropriation bills after discussion on them.
A total of 33 members in Rajya Sabha participated in the discussion on the interim Budget.
Replying to the discussion, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government’s focus in the interim Budget is on capital expenditure (capex) for asset creation.
“We have committed to spend about 17% higher than RE of 2023-24. Our outlay is higher than the projected GDP growth rate of 10.5% during the next financial year (2024-25),” Sitharaman said.
She emphasised that capex is spent on creating assets, which can be used by all citizens equally and their common infrastructure which improves the ‘ease of living’ for everybody.
The interim Budget has earmarked Rs 11.11 lakh crore capex for FY25. The allocation accounts for 3.4% of GDP.
