The week in 5 charts | Interim Budget 2024, India ranks 93 in corruption index, and more

Here are five charts that will help you understand some of the key stories from last week

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced a Rs 11.11 lakh crore spending on infrastructure and vowed to continue reforms as she resisted resorting to populist measures in Modi government’s last Budget before general elections, instead choosing to stay on the path of cutting deficit while bolstering measures for focus groups.

Presenting a vote on account or an interim Budget for 2024-25, Sitharaman proposed no changes in income tax rates for individuals and corporates, as well as import duty but offered amnesty for disputed income tax demands of the period prior to 2014-15 as a relief to small taxpayers. In her close to an hour-long Budget speech in the Lok Sabha, she listed her government’s achievements across sectors in the last 10 years and announced measures to boost tourism, housing and renewable energy.

Also read | Puffed-up and poll-ready: Nirmala Sitharaman’s first Interim Budget

Sitharaman’s Budget proposes to cut fertilizer, and fuel subsidies by 8 percent in 2024-25 over last year while keeping the allocation for rural employment scheme MGNREGA unchanged.

Spending on infrastructure such as roads, ports, and airports has been raised by 11 percent to Rs 11.1 lakh crore in a bid to sustain the current world-record-beating economic growth and create more jobs. The Union government will also provide Rs 1.3 lakh crore long-term loans to states to spend on infrastructure.

Also read | Key takeaways from interim Budget 2024-25 in charts

The government will build 2 crore affordable houses in the next 5 years and will launch a scheme for housing for the middle class. It will develop tourist centres and market them at global scale as also provide viability gap funding for harnessing wind energy potential for an initial capacity of 1 gigawatt.