Agriculture, Employment and Upskilling, MSMEs: Here’s All You Need To Know About Union Budget 2024. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2024 in Parliament today saying it will focus on the poor, women, the youth, and farmers. She said the new budget underscores employment, skilling, MSMEs, and the middle class.
Sitharaman highlighted that the budget envisages sustained efforts on productivity and resilience in agriculture; employment & skilling; inclusive human resource development and social justice; manufacturing & services; urban development; energy security; infrastructure; innovation, research & development; and next-generation reforms.
Betterment of The Agriculture Sector (Union Budget 2024)
The government intends to carry out a comprehensive review of the agriculture research setup to raise productivity. It expects 109 high-yielding and climate-resilient varieties of 32 field and horticulture crops will be released for cultivation for farmers. The government wants to initiate 1 crore farmers in India into natural farming empowered through branding and certification.
It encourages self-sustenance by strengthening the production, storage and marketing pulses and oilseeds in the direction of aatmanirbharta. The Finance Minister announced Rs 1.52 lakh crore for the agricultural sector.
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Employment and Upskilling (Union Budget 2024)
Sitharaman highlighted various schemes for ‘the Employment Linked Incentive’ under the Prime Minister’s package. Here are the schemes:
Scheme 1: First Timers – this will benefit millions of youths across India over two years, providing a one-month wage to all persons afresh in the workforce in all formal sectors. The eligibility limit is Rs 1 lakh per month, with a one-month salary benefit of Rs 15,000 in three installments for first-time workers.
Scheme 2: Job Creation in Manufacturing – this will help incentivize additional employment in the manufacturing sector. Incentives will be given to both the employee and the employer in respect to their EPFO contributions in the initial four years of employment.
Scheme 3: Support to Employers – this covers additional employment within the salary of Rs 1 lakh per month. The government will reimburse Rs 3,000 per month for two years to employers towards their EPFO contributions for every additional employee or worker.
The other two schemes are new and aim to skill 20 lakh youth over five years and provide internship opportunities in top 500 companies to about 1 crore youth in five years. Moreover, the government announced loans up to Rs 10 lakh for higher education in local domestic institutes.
Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs (Union Budget 2024)
The budget is business-friendly for small and medium enterprises, as well as manufacturers (labor-intensive). Public sector banks will provide credit to MSMEs, and there will be a new mechanism for facilitating the continuation of bank credit during stress periods for MSMEs.
Mudra loans limit is now Rs 20 lakh. PM Modi said the budget ensures inclusive growth, and benefits of every sector of the society, paving the way for a developed India.
