Union Budget: Employment-Centric, Pro-Agriculture, Pro-Business - SJM

New Delhi, Jul 24 (PTI) Swadeshi Jagaran Manch on Wednesday termed the Union Budget as employment-centric, pro-agriculture and pro-business, especially MSMEs, and urged the government to adopt more measures to promote entrepreneurship.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for fiscal 2024-25 in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, outlining nine priorities of the government which included productivity, jobs, social justice, urban development, energy security, infrastructure, innovation and reforms.

"The Swadeshi Jagaran Manch appreciates the budget proposals as they are employment-centric, pro-agriculture, pro-business, especially MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises)," the organisation's co-convenor Ashwani Mahajan said in a statement.

However, Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM) expects from the government that "more measures be adopted for the promotion of entrepreneurship in the country", he added.

SJM is an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) ideological fountainhead.

Noting that the budget offers an "innovative comprehensive internship opportunity" in 500 top companies to develop skill sets for educated youth and make them employable, SJM said if the scheme is implemented properly, this can prove to be a "watershed moment for our younger generation".

"This can help 1 crore youth to skill themselves for future job opportunities in the next five years," it added.

Apart from this, SJM said, a good number of schemes have been announced in the budget to incentivise the creation of jobs in the private sector, including support to businesses for EPFO contribution and also providing first salary to first-time employed from the government's kitty.

"The Swadeshi Jagaran Manch congratulates the central government, especially the finance minister, for innovative schemes announced in the budget for promoting job creation and also self-employment," Mahajan said.

SJM also appreciated the increase in the capital expenditure and "encouragement" given in the budget to increase private investment.

Increasing the cap for Mudra loans from Rs 10 lakh to 20 lakh is also a step in the right direction, it said.

"Introduction of a credit guarantee scheme for MSME, credit support to MSME during the stress period, e-commerce export hubs for MSME, development of investment-ready plug and play industrial parks, rental housing for industrial workers etc. are some of the good measures adopted for development of MSMEs," the SJM said.

Scheme for street vendors is yet another step towards inclusive growth, it added. The SJM said that the budget's push to infrastructure both by way of public capital expenditure and also private investment can go a long way towards much-desired infrastructure development.

Encouragement in renewable, especially solar energy, is also an "appreciable programme", it added.

The RSS affiliate said budgetary proposals made to encourage natural farming and provide support to the farmers in crop diversification can help improve the farmer's welfare.

"Reforms and strengthening debt recovery tribunals, steps towards speeding up insolvency resolution are also welcome steps," it added.