Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the eighth consecutive budget on Saturday, February 1, 2025. The major announcements of Union Budget 2025-26 include: change in income tax slabs, PM Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana, Aatmanirbharta in Pulses, Makhana Board, Nuclear Energy Mission, BharatTradeNet for international trade, and more.
In line with this theme, the Finance Minister outlined the broad Principles of Viksit Bharat to encompass the following:
a) Zero-poverty;
b) Hundred per cent good quality school education;
c) Access to high-quality, affordable, and comprehensive healthcare;
d) Hundred per cent skilled labour with meaningful employment;
e) Seventy per cent women in economic activities.
The Budget aims to initiate transformative reforms in Taxation, Power Sector, Urban Development, Mining, Financial Sector, and Regulatory Reforms to augment India’s growth potential and global competitiveness. Union Budget highlights that Agriculture, MSME, Investment, and Exports are engines in the journey to Viksit Bharat using reforms as fuel.
“Union Budget 2025-26 with an effort to a. Accelerate growth b. Secure inclusive development c. Invigorate society and industry d. Uplift household sentiment and e. Enhance spending on power of India's rising middle class,” Sitharaman said while outlining her Budget focus.
Emphasizing ‘Agriculture as the first engine’ for India’s development journey, Union Budget 2025-26 tabled in Parliament today by Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, announced a slew of measures to spur Agricultural Growth and Productivity, thereby benefitting the Annadata.
Budget 2025-26 aims to initiate transformative reforms across six domains which will augment our growth potential and global competitiveness during the next five years, the Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister said while presenting the Union Budget 2025-26 in the Parliament. One of these domains is Financial Sector which encompasses sectors like Insurance, P
FDI in Insurance Sector
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman informed that the FDI limit for the insurance sector will be raised from 74 to 100 per cent. This enhanced limit will be available for those companies which invest the entire premium in India. The current guardrails and conditionalities associated with foreign investment will be reviewed and simplified.
Pension Sector
A forum for regulatory coordination and development of pension products will be set up, the Union Finance Minister stated.
KYC Simplification
To implement the earlier announcement on simplifying the KYC process, the revamped Central KYC Registry will be rolled out in 2025, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman said.
A “National Manufacturing Mission” to cover small, medium and large industries for furthering “Make in India” was announced by the Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs , Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Union Budget 2025-26 in Parliament.
TheFinance Minister further informed that the scheme will support design capacity, component manufacturing,and machinery required for production of non-leather quality footwear,besides the support for leather footwear and products.The scheme is expected to facilitate employment for 22 lakh persons, generate turnover of Rs. 4 lakh crore and exports of over Rs. 1.1 lakh crore
In pursuance of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi-led Government’s vision of ‘Viksit Bharat @ 2047’ with technologically-advanced and ‘Aatmanirbhar’ Armed Forces, Union Budget of India has made a provision of Rs 6,81,210.27 crore for Financial Year (FY) 2025-26 for the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
This allocation is 9.53% more than the Budgetary Estimate of FY 2024-25 and stands at 13.45% of Union Budget, which is highest among the Ministries. Out of this, Rs 1,80,000 crore i.e. 26.43% of total allocation will be spent on Capital Outlay on Defence Services. On Revenue Head, allocation for the Armed Forces stands at Rs 3,11,732.30 crore which is 45.76% of total budget
Revenue expenditure is to take care of Pay & Allowances of the Armed Forces Personnel and for sustenance & operational preparedness. Accordingly, Rs 3,11,732.30 crore has been allocated for this purpose which is 10.24% higher than budgetary allocation of FY 2024-25. Out of this, Rs 1,14,415.50 crore has been allocated on account of non-salary expenditure.
The budgetary allocation to Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has been increased to Rs 26,816.82 crore in FY 2025-26 from Rs 23,855.61 crore in FY 2024-25 which is 12.41% higher than the BE of 2024-25. Out of this, a major share of Rs 14,923.82 crore has been allocated for capital expenditure and to fund the R&D projects.
Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has been allotted Rs 9,676.70 crore under Capital and Revenue Head which is 26.50% more than the allocation for FY 2024-25 at BE stage. On revenue head, the allocation has been increased from Rs 4,151.8 crore for FY 2024-25 to Rs 4,676.70 crore for FY 2025-26 which shows an increase of 12.64%.
While presenting the Union Budget 2025-26 in Parliament, the Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman said “To help MSMEs achieve higher efficiencies of scale, technological upgradation and better access to capital, the investment and turnover limits for classification of all MSMEs will be enhanced to 2.5 and 2 times respectively.”