Exclusive - "Will Become Banana Republic...": Minister On "Copy-Paste" Budget Charge

"Nobody looks at Congress's ideas seriously, if any budget or government has to work based on their ideas, India will become a banana republic," Union Minister Piyush Goyal, in an exclusive interview with NDTV, reacted to Congress's charge that the Union Budget is a "copy-paste" of Congress manifesto for 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

"We would be a bankrupt government if we followed Congress' ideas. They are half-baked, not thought through, unreasonable, and financially unviable and nobody takes a leaf out of their book," Mr Goyal told NDTV, adding that the people of India "don't trust them and therefore they have been restricted to 99 seats."

The budget of Modi 3.0 was received with disdain by the Opposition, with the Congress calling it a "copy-paste, kursi bachap budget" and allies Samajwadi Party and Trinamool Congress concurring to the reaction.

To a question on how the budget forms a roadmap for Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government's "vision of Viksit Bharat", the Union Minister said.

"The marked difference in the Budget is the confidence it exudes. In 2014, when we came to power, the Indian economy was fragile, the foreign exchange reserves were low, and inflation was high...We built it up the first time, only to face Covid and two wars (the Russia-Ukraine War and the Israel-Hamas conflict), despite all of that, the Prime Minister, and finance ministers through 10 years of painstaking efforts made India a powerful nation with economic fundamentals, the macro economy is strong. The world today looks up to India as an engine of growth," Mr Goyal said.

This budget builds upon the strong foundation and therefore it is very bold and thinking big to help India become 'viksit Bharat," he added.

The commerce minister said the Budget reflects the "holistic thinking of the Modi government...On one hand, it has come out with schemes for the promotion of employment and on the other it has potential sectors like leather, textile, critical minerals, and chemicals. The budget looks at sectors where India has a competitive edge...This Budget provides skilling and employment at a macro level."

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the government will launch an internship scheme to provide opportunities to one crore youth in the top 500 companies over the next five years. While presenting the Union Budget 2024-25, Ms Sitharaman said an internship allowance of Rs 5,000 every month and one-time assistance of Rs 6,000 will be provided under the new scheme.

To questions related to the internship scheme like whether companies are on board with the decision, how the policy will take shape and whether there is any timeline, Mr Goyal said, "The Finance Minister spoke about 500 top companies in the country, reputed firms have shown a lot of interest. It's a natural fit, everyone is looking for trained and skilled manpower."

"Earlier, Larsen and Toubro Managing Director on-record said the company is facing a shortage of 45,000 people...When I last met him, he said that's not all, I need 25,000 more in the software and IT business. The demand for skilled and trained talent is massively growing, many international firms are setting up businesses in India for research and development, design, and manufacturing, and a massive churn is going on in the country...I am confident we will create more than 4 crore jobs in India," he said.