Skill Education and Entrepreneurship Interim Budget 2024

The Indian Economy has witnessed a profound positive transformation in the last ten years. The people of India are looking ahead to the future with hope and optimism.

With the ‘mantra’ of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, and Sabka Vishwas’ and the whole of the national approach of “Sabka Prayas”, the Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman presented an Interim Budget 2024-25 – a short-term financial plan for the year 2024 in Parliament, today. This was an interim budget as it came just ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections.

While presenting the budget, the minister announced that the Indian economy has witnessed a profound positive transformation in the last ten years and the people of India are looking ahead to the future with hope and optimism. She added, “Conditions were created for more opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship. The economy got a new vigour. The fruits of development started reaching the people at scale. The country got a new sense of purpose and hope”.

She informed that PM Mudra Yojana has sanctioned 43 crore loans aggregating to Rs 22.5 lakh crore for entrepreneurial aspirations. It may be mentioned that thirty crore Mudra Yojana loans have been given to women entrepreneurs.

The Interim Budget contains several announcements and strategies indicating directions and development approaches for making India Viksit Bharat by 2047.

The key highlights of the Budget are as follows:

Skill Development

Entrepreneurship opportunities to a large number of vendors for supply and installation, employment opportunities for youth with technical skills in manufacturing, installation and maintenance
The government will prepare the financial sector in terms of size, capacity, skills and regulatory framework
Skill India Mission has trained 1.4 crore youth, upskilled and reskilled 54 lakh youth
PM Vishwakarma Yojana: The scheme provides end-to-end support to artisans and craftspeople engaged in 18 trades.
3000 new ITIs have been established under Skill India Mission
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Program estimates a budget of 86000 crores for FY 2024-25
National Livelihood Mission – Ajeevika attracts a budget estimate of over 15k crores
600 crores have been allocated for National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (NATS)
Capacity Building and Skill Development Scheme gets an allocation in the interim budget of 538 crores
A significant raise has been observed in budget estimate for newly launched PM Vishwakarma scheme from 900 crores to 4824 crores

Education

Female enrolment in higher education gone up by 28%.
In STEM courses, girls and women constitute 43% of enrolment, one of the highest in the world.
The National Education Policy 2020 is ushering in transformational reforms
A large no of institutions of higher learning namely 7 IITs, 16 IIITs, 7 IIMs, 15 AIIMS and 390 universities have been set up
In STEM courses, girls and women constitute 43% of enrollment, one of the highest in the world
Education Ministry received its highest-ever budget allocation this year, its two departments got 1.25 lakh crores allocated in which School Education gets record allocation of over ₹ 73,000 Crore
Samagra Shiksha sees an increase of approx. 12% from previous year’s revised budget: 2024-25 budget estimate is 37500 crores
PM SHRI gets a hike of 2050 crores from FY 2023-24 which estimates to 6050 crores for this year Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA)-1815 crores
Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States (STARS)-1250 crores
PM Uchchatar Shiksha Protsahan (PM-USP) Yojna budget gets allocation of 1558 crores which is similar to previous year’s however it was reduced to 1054 crores in revised budget of 2023-24
Education Empowerment 1576 crores, have not seen a significant increment as compared to previous year’s revised budget

Entrepreneurship & Business

30 crore Mudra Yojana loans given to women entrepreneurs.
Direct Taxes: Tax benefits to Start-Ups, investments made by Sovereign wealth funds or pension funds extended to 31.03.2025
Tax rationalization efforts over the years:
- Presumptive taxation threshold for retail businesses increased to Rs 3 crore from Rs 2 crore
- Presumptive taxation threshold for professionals increased to Rs 75 lakh from Rs 50 lakh
- Corporate income tax decreased to 22% from 30% for existing domestic companies
- Corporate income tax rate at 15% for new manufacturing companies
PM Mudra Yojana: has sanctioned 43 crore loans amounting to Rs. 22.5 lakh crore for the entrepreneurial aspirations of your youth
Entrepreneurship opportunities to a large number of vendors for supply and installation, employment opportunities for youth with technical skills in manufacturing, installation and maintenance
Fund of Funds, Startup India, and Startup Credit Guarantee Schemes are assisting our youth
Empowerment of Women through entrepreneurship, ease of living, and dignity has gained momentum in the last 10 years
Important priority to ensure timely and adequate finances, relevant tech and appropriate training for MSMEs to grow and compete globally.
GST has enabled one nation, one market, one tax
Guarantee Emergency Credit Line (GECL) facility to eligible MSME borrowers, experienced a significant fall of approx. 4000 crores: previous year’s BE was 14100 crores however the centre sector scheme RAMP (Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance) budget for this year is same as previous year Budget Estimate 2023-24 (1170 crores)