Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has begun presenting the Union Budget 2021-22 in Parliament. Sitharaman said the budget for 2021-22 rests on six pillars – from healthcare to infrastructure.
At the start of the joint session of Parliament on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said the Finance minister had already announced three to four mini budgets and that the 2021-22 Budget should be seen as an extension of the same effort. After an estimated 7.7 per cent contraction in 2020-21, the Finance Ministry’s Economic Survey projects that India’s real GDP would record a growth of 11 per cent in 2021-22. The nominal GDP growth has been estimated at 15.4 per cent, implying an assumption of 4.4 per cent inflation during the year.
Sitharaman has raised hopes by stating that Budget 2021-22 will “be a Budget like never before.” Expectations are high that the government will boost economic revival by focusing on infrastructure, healthcare, agriculture, rural economy, MSMEs sectors impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown restrictions.
This would be Sitharaman’s third budget under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a significant departure from the tradition, this year’s Budget will be unique as it will be paperless.
Over 13,000 km length of roads at a cost of Rs.3.3. lakh cr has already been awarded under Rs.5.35 lakh cr Bharatmala project of which 3,800 kms have been construted.By march 2022 we would be awarding another 8,500 and complete an additional 11,000 kms of National Highway Corridor.
3,500 km corridor in Tamil Nadu, 1,100 km in Kerala at investment of Rs 65,000 crore,1,300 km in Assam and 675 km in West Bengal at a cost of Rs 95,000 crore