Budget 2023 Updates: Nirmala Sitharaman, finance minister, refuted the opposition's claim that the Union Budget 2023–24 reduced food subsidies on Friday. The Minister stated in response to a question on the Lok Sabha Budget that it had nearly increased to 1.97 lakh crores of rupees.
In response to claims made by the opposition that subsidies for food and fertilizer have been reduced, she stated that food subsidies have nearly doubled to Rs 1.97 lakh crore and fertilizer subsidies have increased to Rs 2.25 lakh crore for the current fiscal year from the budget estimate of Rs 1.05 lakh crore for the current financial year ending in March 2023. According to her, the 2023–24 farm credit goal has also been raised to 20 lakh crore rupees.
The government has protected the farmers from an increase in international fertilizer prices by increasing the fertilizer subsidy.
The minister said that the budget for the fiscal year beginning in April (2023–24) supports record capital investment while simultaneously boosting green growth, healthcare, and the economy.
According to the finance minister, the administration attempted to reconcile the need for India's development imperatives within the bounds of fiscal discipline in this budget. She said that the government was able to return to the tolerance zone set by the RBI by adopting preventative steps and sticking to its monetary policy choices.
The finance minister said these actions caused the consumer price index to drop to a level below six percent. She claimed that the new tax system has been created to be highly appealing.
The agriculture industry, which has recently been dealing with a variety of difficulties, would benefit greatly from this rise in subsidies.
The government's decision to increase the fertilizer subsidy is part of its larger efforts to help the agricultural business, which also include several other programs aimed at enhancing farmers' quality of life and fostering the sector's expansion.
The department of fertilizers received Rs 1,05,262 crore in FY2022-23, which is a reduction of 25% from the updated expectations for 2021–22.
Additionally, the allocation for urea and nutrient-based fertilizer subsidies in 2022–23 is, respectively, 17% and 35% less than the updated projections for 2021–22.
