Various Measures Taken To Reduce Debt Burden, Strengthen Economy: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

To deliver down the debt burden, the federal government has taken varied measures like growing the tax income buoyancy, enhancing the general public expenditure effectiveness, dedication to decreasing fiscal deficit and augmenting the productive effectivity, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated on Monday.

Along with strengthening the monetary system, the federal government has greater than doubled its efficient capital expenditure from Rs 6.57 lakh crore in 2020-21 to Rs 13.71 lakh crore and Rs 14.97 lakh crore in 2023-24 (BE) and 2024-25 (BE), respectively, to crowd in personal investments, she stated within the Lok Sabha.

The federal government’s emphasis on growing capital expenditure is not going to solely increase the investments, but additionally return a better GDP development to decrease the debt burden, she stated.

Concurrently, she stated, the state governments have been incentivised to extend their capital spending by means of measures like 50-year interest-free capex loans and front-loading of tax devolution instalments.

Varied different measures like discount of the company tax price, liberalisation of overseas direct funding, and enhancement of ease of doing enterprise have created supportive situations for sustained development in personal funding, she stated.

Because of this, the general funding price within the financial system consolidated at 29.2 per cent of GDP in 2022-23 and additional improved to 29.8 per cent in 2023-24 as per the advance estimates by NSO, she stated.

Impacted by COVID-19, the debt to GDP ratio elevated to 89.6 per cent on the finish of the pandemic yr 2020-21.

After a pointy rise in authorities debt in 2020-21 on account of the income shortfall and extra spending necessities as a result of pandemic, the final authorities debt relative to GDP has steadily declined over the past two years to achieve round 81 per cent on the finish of March 2023 (provisional), she stated.

Buoyant income assortment, rebalancing of spending from income to capital expenditure and strong actual GDP development within the post-pandemic years have led to a decline within the authorities debt relative to GDP, she added.

Replying to a different query, Sitharaman stated greater than 46.15 crore loans amounting to Rs 27.38 lakh crore have been sanctioned to the debtors underneath the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMYY) as of January 26, 2024.

Complaints with regard to the implementation of PMMY are redressed in session with respective banks. The complaints acquired on the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) are additionally being taken up with respective banks for redressal throughout the prescribed timelines, she stated.

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) has been profitable in growing banking penetration to advertise monetary inclusion throughout the nation, she stated in a separate reply.

A complete of 51.61 crore Jan-Dhan accounts with a deposit stability of Rs 2,17,218 crore have been opened as of January 17, 2024, underneath PMJDY, the minister stated.

Of the full, 28.60 crore (55.5 per cent) Jan-Dhan accounts belong to girls, and about 34.41 crore (66.8 per cent) PMJDY accounts have been opened in rural and semi-urban areas.

(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is printed from a syndicated information company feed – PTI)