Modi government says focus on employment & middle class in first post-poll budget

The government will allocate 2 trillion rupees ($24 billion) for job creation over the next five years, Nirmala Sitharaman said.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman holds up a folder with the Government of India's logo as she leaves her office to present the union budget in the parliament in New Delhi | Photo: Praveen Jain/ThePrint

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first post-election budget will focus on employment and the middle class, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday as she began presenting the final financial statement for 2024-25.

The government will allocate 2 trillion rupees ($24 billion) for job creation over the next five years, Sitharaman said.

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) failed to secure a majority in the election last month, making it dependant on allies to form a government for the first time since he came to power more than a decade ago.

“This budget will decide the direction of our work for the next five years and this will lay the foundation of fulfilling our objective to make India a developed country by 2047,” Modi said on Monday ahead of the budget.

($1 = 83.6230 Indian rupees)

(Additional reporting by Aftab Ahmed; Editing by YP Rajesh)

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