At post-Budget webinar, FM Nirmala Sitharaman focuses on timely implementations of announcements

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman emphasizes timely implementation of Budget announcements for 2025-26, focusing on economic growth and reforms.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday (March 4, 2025) said that her government is committed to ensuring the timely implementation of all Budget announcements made for the year 2025-26.

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Speaking at a post-Budget webinar hosted by the Department of Financial Services, the Finance Minister recounted how some of the announcements made in the July 2024 Budget have been implemented in a short time. She said that the Mudra loan limit under the Tarun category has been increased from ₹10 lakh to ₹20 lakh, as was announced in the July 2024 Budget. This new limit took effect on October 24, 2024, within three months of the announcement. Further, she said 21 new SIDBI branches have already been opened in MSME clusters during 2024-25 in line with the budget announcements made in July.

Ms. Sitharaman added that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has implemented the pilot project for the PM Internship Scheme announced in the Budget of 2024-25, creating over 1.25 lakh internship opportunities in top companies with over six lakh applications received so far. "This is consistent with our track record of delivering on promises made in previous budgets," she added. Since 2017, the Budget has been presented on February 1, instead of March 1.

Ms. Sitharaman said presenting the Budget a month earlier provides the government with more time for the departments and Ministries to plan and implement the Budget announcements in the same financial year. "Our government remains steadfast in reducing regulatory burdens and enhancing trust-based governance to improve the ease of doing business," she said.

"Through the budget announcements, we are taking various steps towards making India a seamless export-friendly economy, one where businesses are free to focus on innovation and expansion and not paperwork and penalties, decriminalization of business-related laws, reduces the legal risks, allowing industries to operate with greater confidence."

In her address, she also highlighted the fact that her government has removed over 42,000 compliances and decriminalised over 3,700 legal provisions since 2014. In the Jan Vishwas Act 2023, more than 180 legal provisions were decriminalized. She said her government is on the verge of bringing up the Jan Vishwas Bill 2.0 to decriminalize more than 100 provisions in various laws. "It will further simplify processes for businesses," she said.