Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has presented the interim budget 2024-25 with a focus on empowering farmers, women, youth and the poor.
This was the second interim budget of the Modi government’s tenure. It is important to note that the interim budget primarily focuses on maintaining essential services until the new government takes charge, but it contains several key expectations. An interim budget, often known as a vote-on-account, is a financial plan presented by the government for a few months. It is often introduced when there is less time left for the tenure of the government to end.
Lok Sabha elections are to be held in the country in the next three months. Whichever government comes next, it will again present a full budget for the financial year 2024-25. It is a tradition in India that the full budget is not presented in the year before the general elections. This is to prevent the current government from using the budget as a political tool to woo voters with populist schemes. Therefore, an interim budget is presented to cover government spending until a new government is elected and presents its first full budget.
