Budget 2024: With Lok Sabha elections barely months away, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present an Interim Budget for fiscal year 2024-25 on February 1. This will be Sitharamans sixth Budget presentation but the last full Budget before the polls from the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.While major policy announcements are unlikely in an election-year Interim Budget, all eyes will be on the governments populist schemes and fiscal consolidation stance revealed in Sitharamans speech.Budget 2024: Date and TimeThe Budget presentation by FM Sitharaman will begin at 11 am in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, February 1.Budget 2024: Where to watch live Viewers can live stream the speech on Sansad TV, DD News, and the Press Information Bureaus YouTube channel and website. The Budget presentation will begin at 11 am.Top Indian News will also provide live coverage across its digital platforms. Viewers can tune in via our website and social media handles for real-time updates and analysis as the Interim Budget 2024 is tabled.Budget 2024: Where to find Budget documentsOnce Sitharaman concludes her speech, the full Budget documents will be available on the official website and mobile app. Android users can download the app from the Google Play Store while iOS users can find it on the App Store.Given the looming elections, Sitharaman faces a challenging balancing act between welfare spending and fiscal prudence in her latest Budget. The government usually tries to woo voters with populist measures in an election year. But it cannot ignore fiscal targets amid a global slowdown.Budget 2024: What economists expectEconomists will closely watch allocation for flagship schemes like PM Kisan, PM Awas Yojana, and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Income tax relaxations may also be announced to provide relief to the middle class.On the fiscal front, Sitharaman may have to relax the deficit target of 5.9% for 2023-24 given lower-than-expected revenue collections. It remains to be seen whether she sets a glide path to bring the deficit below 4.5% by 2025-26 as envisioned earlier.All in all, Budget 2024 will offer important clues on whether the central government chooses to prioritize pre-poll sops or fiscal rectitude as it enters the final stretch in power before the 2024 polls.
