Key Highlights of Union Budget 2025

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her eighth consecutive budget today, i.e. on 1st February 2025. Budget 2025 focuses on gareeb, youth, annadata and naari (poor, youth, farmers and women) through Agriculture, MSME, Investment and Export

Here are the main updates of Union Budget 2025-26 India 

Agriculture

• Prime Minister Dhan Dhaniya Krishi Yojana in partnership with states to help 1.7 Crore farmers to enhance agriculture projectivity, improve irrigation facilities, and long-term and short-term credit facilities. The main goal is to provide ample opportunities in rural areas to minimise migration.
• The government will launch a 6-year mission for Atmanirbharta in pulses.
• A comprehensive program for vegetables and fruits for increased access to vegetables & fruits, addressing rising health awareness and income levels. The plan focuses on making nutritious foods more accessible to all.
• Makhana Board will be set up in Bihar state to train makhana farmers. It will give a special opportunity for the Bihar makhana farmers
• The 5-year mission for cotton production to increase the income of cotton farmers and promote good-quality cotton.
• India Post to be transformed into a large logistics organisation. Daak Sevaks will act as capitalists for the rural economy.
• A Urea Plant with a capacity of 12.7 lakh metric tons to be set up in Namrup, Assam to further augment urea supply.

MSME

• The government will make it easier for MSMEs to get Credit Guarantee Cover.
• Credit guarantee cover to be increased for MSMe from Rs. 5 to Rs. 10 Crores.
• Customised credit cards will be made available for micro-enterprises with a limit of Rs. 5 Lakhs.
• New scheme for 5 lakh SC/ST women, providing term loans of up to Rs. 2 Crores during the next 5 years.
• Special policies and measures will be implemented for labour-intensive sectors.
• A focused product scheme will be implemented for quality leather footwear and products, providing employment for 22 lakh leather workers.
• Rs. 10,000 Crores fund for startups.
• The government will implement a scheme to make India a global hub for toys.
• The government will launch NATL manufacturing mission for small, medium and large industries.

Investment

• The segment focuses on investment in the economy, people and education.
• Saksham Anganwadi & POSHAN 2.0 programme will provide nutritional support to 8 Crore women.
• Broadband connectivity will be provided to all govt secondary schools.
• Bhartiya Bhasha Pustak scheme will be launched for students.
• 50,000 atal tinkering labs will be set up in government schools.
• Additional infrastructure will be created in 5 IITs that were started after 2014 to facilitate education for 6500 more students.
• India is getting ready for the A.I. age by outlaying a fund of Rs. 5000 Crore for a centre of excellence for AI in education.
• Daycare cancer centres will be opened in all district hospitals in next 3 years. 200 centres to be established in the year 2025-26 itself.
• With a focus on the social upliftment of urban workers, around 1 crore gig workers around India can get identity cards through e-shram portal & health insurance through PMJAY.
• The government will allow additional borrowing of 0.5% of GSDP by states.
• Support to states for infrastructure projects will be provided with an outlay of Rs. 1.5 Lakh Crores for 50 years.
• Interest-free loans to states for capital expenditure.
• The government will set up an urban challenge fund of Rs. 1 Lakh Crore.
• Set up of maritime development fund with a corpus of Rs. 25,000 crore, with 49% contribution from the government.
• Modified UDAN scheme to be launched for improving regional connectivity and with the target of adding another 4 Crore additional passengers in the next 10 years.
• Policy for recovery of critical minerals.
• Greenfield airports are to be facilitated in Bihar.
• The shipbuilding financial assistance policy will be revamped
• The top 50 tourist destinations will be developed, including hotels in these locations.
• Rs. 20,000 Crore allocated for Private Sector R&D and Innovation.

Export

• The government will launch an export promotion mission.
• Air cargo screening and customs clearance to be made user-friendly.
• FDI in insurance raised from 74% to 100%.
• The government will set up an investment-friendliness index for states.
• A high-level committee will be established to review regulations for all non-financial sectors.
• Fiscal deficit target for FY26 is 4.8%.
• FY25 revised capex is Rs 10.18 trillion.
• The revised estimate for expenditure in FY25 is Rs. 47.16 Lakh Crores.
• Receipts excluding borrowings will be Rs. 34.96 Lakh Crores.
• 6 life-saving medicines to get concessional custom duty and 36 medicines to be added for full exemption.
• Cobalt powder, scrap of lithion ion battery, lead and 12 other minerals are to be exempted.
• BCD exemption for 35 capital goods for EV batteries.
• The government will add 9 items to the duty-free export list.
• Social Welfare Surcharge to be exempted on 82 tariff lines that are subject to a cess.
• A new Income Tax Bill will be introduced next week.
• Rationalizing tax deduction at source (TDS) by reducing the number of rates and thresholds above which TDS is deducted.
• Increasing threshold amounts for better clarity and uniformity.
• The limit for tax deduction on interest for senior citizens will be doubled from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 1,00,000.
• Raising the annual limit for TDS on rent from Rs. 2.40 lakh to Rs. 6 lakh, benefiting small taxpayers receiving smaller payments.
• Increasing the threshold to collect Tax Collected at Source (TCS) on remittances under the RBI's Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) from Rs. 7 Lakhs to Rs. 10 Lakhs.
• No income tax payable for up to an annual income of Rs. 12 Lakhs.
• The timeline to file updated tax returns extended from 2 to 4 years.
• 33,000 taxpayers availed Vivad Se Vishwas scheme.