Nirmala Sitharaman in an exclusive conversation with NDTV
New Delhi:
In an exclusive interview with NDTV Sunday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman rejected the criticism from the Opposition that the BJP-led Centre was only trying to attract voters in Bihar and Delhi through the announcements in the Union Budget.
Here Are Nirmala Sitharaman's Top Quotes:
- This is people's budget. This is the 'by the people, of the people, for the people budget'.
- The Modi government has always recognised honest taxpayers. The aim is to provide support to the middle class.
- The government has created a balance between strengthening the foundation of a 'Viksit Bharat' and equally focusing on key sectors like health, nutrition and education through welfare schemes.
- The focus has been on capital expenditure (capex) in the last few years of the Modi government, and now the government has also given a huge boost to increasing consumption.
- Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has been increasing capex by 10-15 per cent to such an extent that the government announced a capex of Rs 11.11 lakh crore last year.
- On top of that, a rise in capex by 10.23 per cent in comparison to RE (revenue expenditure) takes it to over Rs 11.21 lakh crore. That is not an ordinary thing.
- Repeatedly, the public expenditure on asset building has reached such a level that 10.23 per cent growth also seems ordinary.
- The Centre has introduced custom duty rationalisation to ensure the Indian economy becomes 'aatmanirbhar' (self-reliant).
- We are looking at our own economy. We are looking to strengthen the foundation of the Indian economy, to make it a manufacturing hub.
- No one can say no to AI-driven, technology-driven processes... We are developing centres to train people for AI.
