Interim Budget 2024: CII hails focus on infrastructure, 'Viksit Bharat'

Chandigarh, Feb 1 (PTI) Industry body CII's northern region Chairman Deepak Jain on Thursday hailed the interim Budget 2024-25, saying it lays down the long-term vision for India, focusing on infrastructure, youth, agriculture, and women.

In a statement, Jain said the government has shown commendable commitment towards fiscal prudence and consolidation, while keeping the fiscal deficit to 5.8 per cent of GDP for 2023-24, which has been in line with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Budget recommendations.

"At CII, we believe this Budget scores well on many fronts, including its focus on developing infrastructure, meeting green goals, etc, and lays down a strong foundation for a 'Viksit Bharat' by 2047," said Jain, also the Chairman Lumax-DK Jain Group.

CII northern region Deputy Chairman Madhavkrishna Singhania said the continued thrust on capital expenditure with the proposal to spend a record Rs 11.11 trillion on infrastructure creation in 2024-25, as highlighted in the Budget, is expected to pave the way to boost overall economic productivity, crowd in private investment, and drive growth through a multiplier effect.

"Measures such as implementation of railway corridor programmes under PM Gati Shakti, promotion of foreign investment via bilateral investment treaties, expansion of existing airports and comprehensive development of new airports under UDAN scheme, promotion of urban transformation via Metro rail, etc, are steps in the right direction," said Singhania.

CII Chandigarh Chairman Vivek Gupta said it is noteworthy that the government has renewed its focus on sustainable development and India's commitment towards achieving 'Net Zero by 2070' through policy announcements such as viability gap funding for wind energy; setting up of coal gasification, greater adoption of e-buses for public transport networks, etc, "which are welcome steps to pave India's way towards a sustainable future".

"The interim Budget presented today is a reflection of the government's vision of building an AatmaNirbhar Bharat," said CII Haryana Chairperson Anjali Singh.

The Budget's focus on developing additional dedicated freight corridors, setting up a corpus for interest-free loans to sunrise domains, promoting solar power, and tax benefit extension to start-ups amongst other announcements will facilitate overall economic development of the country," Singh added.