In one of the first reactions to the Budget 2024 speech of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Congress Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor called it a “very disappointing speech” and said that the minister said a number of things in “vague” language.
“It was one of the shortest speeches on record in the Budget. Not very much came out of it. As usual a lot of rhetorical language, very little concrete implementation…She talked about foreign investment without acknowledging that that investment has come down significantly. She talked about a number of things which are couched in vague language like ‘confidence’ and ‘hope’ and so on,” Congress MP Shashi Tharoor told ANI after the Budget 2024 speech.
“But when it comes to hard figures, very few figures available…This is going to be a very disappointing speech in terms of being couched entirely in generalities and without enough substance nor any willingness to address the specific problems of the economy…,” the Thiruvananthapuram MP added.
During her Budget 2024 speech, Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned the foreign direct investment inflow from 2014-2023, which was pegged at $590 billion. “That is twice the inflow during 2005-14. For encouraging sustained foreign investment, we are negotiating bilateral investment treaties with our foreign partners, in the spirit of ‘first develop India,’ the finance minister said.
However, the FDI inflow in India has experienced a decline when observed over the past some quarters. After reaching its highest point at $70 billion in the second quarter of 2021, the FDI has reduced to $33 billion in the second quarter of 2023.
‘Next 5 years will be crucial…’
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the upcoming 5 years will be very crucial as these will the years of unprecedented development for India to realise the goal of becoming a developed country by 2047.
“The Indian economy has witnessed a positive transformation in the last 10 years. People are looking towards the future with hope. In 2014, the country was facing enormous challenges. With Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas, the Narendra Modi-led government overcame those challenges,” said Finance Minister Sitharaman in her Budget 2024 speech.
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Published: 01 Feb 2024, 01:29 PM IST