Budget’s Goal Is to Accelerate Growth: Sitharaman

New Delhi: Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said that the goals of the Union Budget 2025-26 are to accelerate growth, secure inclusive development and invigorate private sector investments. The Union minister was replying to the discussion on the Budget in the Rajya Sabha amid uproar by the Opposition members.

Before the Parliament proceedings were adjourned till March 10, the finance minister also introduced the new Income-Tax Bill 2025 in the Lok Sabha and later the Rajya Sabha, asserting that the new Bill includes “substantial changes”.

The finance minister said that the government steered the economy well during the Covid-19 crisis. Citing the Centre’s focus on reforms in the past, Sitharaman said that the country emerged as the fifth largest major economy in the world after being listed among the “fragile five” economies post-2008 global financial crisis.

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. The finance minister, however, 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 dynamic. We have tried keeping the assessments as close as possible, keeping India’s interests as topmost,” Sitharaman said.

Rejecting some Opposition member’s claims on the government’s shift in focus away from capital expenditure, Sitharaman said that the Budget has not reduced sectoral allocations, adding that the effective capital expenditure during the next fiscal is estimated at `19.08-lakh crore.

“The effective capital expenditure for the next fiscal year is projected to be at `15.48-lakh crore as against `13.18-lakh crore in the revised estimate of FY25. Including the outlay by public enterprises, the capex will be `19.80-lakh crore for fiscal year 2025-26,” she added.

After the finance minister concluded her reply to the discussion on the Union Budget, Deputy Chairman Harivansh adjourned the proceedings till 11 am on March 10, marking the conclusion of the first part of the Budget Session.

Lok Sabha proceedings were also adjourned till March 10, with the first part of the Budget Session recording a productivity of 112 per cent.

On Thursday, the finance minister also introduced the new Income-Tax Bill 2025 first in the Lok Sabha and subsequently in the Rajya Sabha, saying that the Bill will consolidate and amend the law relating to income-tax. The much-anticipated Bill will replace terminologies like “assessment year” and “previous year” with the easier-to-understand “tax year” as part of a move to simplify language while removing provisos and explanations.

Taking a dig at the 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 existing I-T Act has 819 sections that the MP should be using as the reference. From this 819, we are bringing it down to 536,” Sitharaman said.