Ira Deshpande, Pune
During his speech at the ‘Journey Towards Viksit Bharat: Post Union Budget 2024-25 Conference’, at Vigyan Bhawan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi predicted India to be the world’s third-largest economy. Mr. Modi further added the agenda of accomplishing this during his third term as the Prime Minister. The PM emphasized how before 2014, India was a part of the ‘fragile five’ and struggled to get its economy back on track. In 2024, we stand at a growth rate of 8%.
The highlights of the PM’s speech were on India’s journey to becoming the fifth-largest economy. He spoke about the challenges of the Pandemic and the example we set for the world with India’s fiscal prudence. Unlike many countries, India is currently experiencing low inflation and high growth. With the importance of improving the quality of life, our focus remains on refining the ease of living. A special mention was made of MUDRA for facilitating over 8 crore people to start new businesses in the country.
Concerning the 2024 Budget, The PM spoke about 2013 to 2014 during Dr. Manmohan Singh’s government. Under Dr. Singh’s governance, the last budget was Rs. 16 lakh crores. In 2024, the budget was tripled and stands at 48 lakh crores. He added that compared to the UPA government, they had focused on growing the economy of diverse sectors in the country. Post-2014, the budget of railways has increased by 8 times, agriculture by 4 times and defense doubled. The PM praised the Union Budget for the PM package worth Rs. 2 lakh crores set to benefit over four crore youngsters.
The PM mentioned various incentives like ‘Make in India’, Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes, and liberalization of FDI norms to promote the growth of the manufacturing sector of our economy. He stressed the interest investors from around the globe are showing in our economy and that the domestic industry must take this ‘golden chance’ to contribute towards the mission of Vikshit Bharat by 2047.
This session was conducted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to present the government’s aim towards growth and the industry’s participation in it. The event hosted over 1000 participants who were industry experts, government officials, and representatives from think tanks among others. Apart from the participants present at the venue, the CII streamed the speech across the country and overseas.