Indian economy fastest growing major economy: Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the government has adopted the capital expenditure route to revive the economy after the Covid pandemic. Responding to the discussion on the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said that this budget is being presented against the backdrop that India is coming out of the pandemic and the path to recovery is clearly visible. He said that despite facing problems, the Indian economy is the fastest growing major economy.

The Finance Minister said that in this budget, the government has tried to balance India’s development imperatives within the fiscal limits. Sitharaman said that by taking these measures the consumer price index came down to below six per cent. He said that the new tax regime has been made very attractive. The Finance Minister said that the agricultural credit target has also been increased to Rs 20 lakh crore for the year 2023-24.

He termed the opposition’s allegation of reduction in food subsidy as baseless. Sitharaman said that food subsidy has been almost doubled to Rs 1 lakh 97 thousand crore. He also said that the fertilizer subsidy has been increased to Rs 2 lakh 25 thousand crore for the current financial year.