February 2: India has increased its grants to Nepal by INR 50 crores. India’s interim budget submitted by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to the Indian Parliament on Thursday mentions that the grants for Nepal have been increased.

India has announced that it will grant Nepal INR 700 crores (Rs 11.2 billion) in the fiscal year 2024/25.

For the Fiscal Year 2023/24, India had announced a grant of INR 550 million (Rs 8.80 billion) for Nepal. However, India increased the grant to Nepal to INR 650 crores (Rs 10.4 billion) in Fiscal Year 2023/24.

In the Fiscal Year 2024/25, India has announced to provide the highest financial assistance to Bhutan among the South Asian countries. In the Fiscal Year 2024/25, India will provide Bhutan INR 2,068.56 crores including INR 989.70 as loans and the remaining amount as grants.

Recently, due to the strained relations with the Maldives, India has reduced the aid to the island nation. In the Fiscal Year 2024/25, India will grant INR 600 crores to the Maldives, down from INR 770 crores provided by New Delhi to Male in the Fiscal Year 2023.

India has also increased its grants to Sri Lanka for next year. This year Sri Lanka has been given INR 60 crores as grants, while it will receive INR 75 crores in grants next year. The grant to Afghanistan next year has been reduced by INR 20 crores to INR 200 crores compared to the current year. India has also cut INR10 crores in grants to Bangladesh, another neighbor. India provided INR 130 crores as grants to Bangladesh this year, but pledged only INR 120 crores next year.

What else is in the interim budget?

The Government of India has brought the interim budget this year targeting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Finance Minister Sitharaman says that the budget has specifically targeted the farmers, youth, women and low income earners.

Metro and Namo Bharat trains have been planned in the interim budget of India. According to the new budget, new cities and new areas will be connected by metro rail. Apart from this, the Namo Bharat train will be extended. Similarly, the budget has also emphasized on middle-class travel.

The program to establish more medical colleges has been kept in the budget. The programme of 'Roof Top Solarization' has been included in the budget. Under this programme, 1 crore families will be able to get 300 units of electricity for free.

Presenting the interim budget, Finance Minister Sitharaman said, "The Indian economy has seen profound positive changes in the last 10 years." Citizens of India are looking towards the future with hope. When the leadership of Narendra Modi assumed power in 2014, the country was facing difficult challenges and the government has properly controlled all those challenges.”

In the interim budget 2024/25, the Modi government has mentioned that three major economic railway corridors will be implemented. The Indian government will implement energy, mineral and cement corridors, port connectivity corridors and high traffic density corridors. The budget also mentions that the number of airports in India has doubled to 149 in the last 10 years.

She also said that the Modi government has lifted 250 million Indians out of the poverty line. She said that the government has worked with priority for the poor, women and common people of India.

The Government of India has reduced the rate of corporate tax from 30 to 22 percent. Similarly, the tax rate for new manufacturing companies has been increased to 15 percent. There has been no change in the income tax slab. The time of tax exemption for startups has been extended by 1 year.

The Modi government has reduced the rate of personal income tax. As mentioned in the budget, no tax is levied on income up to INR 700,000. In the year 2013/14, this amount was INR 200,000 under the income tax limit.

Finance Minister Sitharaman said that the Modi government has increased the limit of income tax relief for retail businesses from INR 2 crore to INR 4 crore. She said that the number of taxpayers has been increasing significantly in the past few years.