Landmark budget of New India that's emerging as economic powerhouse: MoS IT

Country is expanding investments in modern capex, digitalisation, modern cities, and skilling for youth, tax cuts for the middle class and expanding support and opportunities for all, minister said

Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, on Wednesday said that the Union Budget 2023-24 is a landmark budget of New India that is emerging as an economic powerhouse.

The country is expanding investments in modern capex, digitalisation, modern cities, and skilling for youth, tax cuts for the middle class and expanding support and opportunities for all, the minister said.

"Even as most countries struggle to emerge from the effects of two years of the Covid pandemic and the European war, India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi emerges as a strong economy and gives a tax cut to its middle class, more credits to farmers and MSMEs," said Chandrasekhar.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday announced that the revamped credit guarantee scheme for MSMEs, proposed in the previous Budget, will take effect from April 1, 2023 through infusion of Rs 9,000 crore in the corpus.

"This will enable additional collateral-free guaranteed credit of Rs 2 lakh crore. Further, the cost of credit will be reduced by about 1 per cent," she said.

The Budget has also designated green growth as one of the seven themes with thrust on ecosystem development for green hydrogen, infrastructure strengthening for utility-scale renewable energy power, pushing India towards net-zero target.

Sitharaman also announced the launch of the fourth phase of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) to give a push to skilling in the country.

"PMKVY 4.0 will be launched to skill lakhs of youth within the next three years. It will cover courses for Industry 4.0, Covid, AI, robotics, mechatronics, IoT and drones," she added.

--IANS

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