Recap before Union Budget: Top economic announcements by Modi 3.0 since taking charge

Anticipation has been running high that the Budget could announce welfare measures to revive the rural economy.

A host of announcements by the BJP-led NDA 3.0 since returning to power have shaped the market's expectations of the Union Budget and the economic agenda of the government. The measures announced have revolved around rural focus or have been infrastructure oriented. Anticipation has been running high that the Budget could announce welfare measures to revive the rural economy. Such steps could help in the recovery of the rural economy and boost demand across the broader economy.

Here's a quick recap of the major initiatives by the government since June 4:

• The Cabinet on June 19 had approved the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for 14 Kharif season crops, including Paddy, Ragi, Bajra, Jowar, Maize, and Cotton. Cabinet's decision on Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for Kharif crops will result in farmers receiving approximately Rs 2 lakh crore, which is an increase of Rs 35,000 crore compared to the previous season.

• In June, Centre also approved the Viability Gap Funding (VGF) scheme for offshore wind energy projects at a total outlay of Rs 7,453 crore. This includes an outlay of Rs 6,853 crore for the installation and commissioning of 1 GW of offshore wind energy projects, and a grant of Rs 600 crore to upgrade two ports to meet logistics requirements for offshore wind energy projects.

• The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) too saw a revision with additional assistance for 3 crore houses eligible households. The scheme has provided assistance for the construction of over 4 crore houses since the launch in 2015-16.

• Also in June, the government released the 17th instalment of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi initiative, totalling over Rs 20,000 crore, to over 9 crore farmers. Under the scheme, the Centre transfers Rs 6,000 every year through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) as income support for land-holding farmers. Since the launch of the scheme in 2019, Centre has transferred over than Rs 3 lakh crore to over 11 crore farmers.

• Centre had on June 19 approved the development of an all-weather deep-water port at Vadhavan, near Dahanu in Maharashtra. Upon completion, the Vadhavan port will be one of the top 10 ports in the world. The capacities created will also aid EXIM trade flow through IMEEC (India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor) and INSTC (International North South Transportation Corridor).Vadhavan Port is expected to cater to spillover traffic from JNPT once its expanded capacity of 10 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units, the standard measure for container traffic) is used up. It is expected that Vadhavan Port will handle around 1 million TEUs of cargo in its first year of operation.

• The Union Cabinet had also approved the expansion of Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport, Varanasi, at a cost of about Rs 2,870 crore last month. The proposal includes extending the runway and building a new terminal building.

• The Union Cabinet on June 19 also cleared approved the proposal for the central government scheme of 'National Forensic Infrastructure Enhancement Scheme (NFIES)', under which off-campus labs of the National Forensic Sciences University are to be set up across 28 states and UTs, and the existing structure to be enhanced at a total financial outlay of Rs 2,254.43 crore between 2024-25 to 2028-29. The additional campuses of the NFSU would help address the shortage of trained forensic manpower.

A note by Goldman Sachs dated July 8 has said that the Budget may not compromise on the capex spend or any relaxation in the fiscal consolidation path. However, it is cautious on raising expectations of any relaxation in fiscal consolidation and a pivot towards welfare spending at the cost of capex.