The announcement made by the finance minister was a part of the package aimed at boosting employment and enhancing India’s skilling capacity.
Other new centrally sponsored schemes for young India included skilling two million youth over the next five years. This policy will be implemented in partnership with states and industry, she said.
India, which has the largest youth population in the world, faces a key challenge of generating sufficient employment and skilled workforce for non-farm sectors.
Ahead of the Budget, several stakeholders had recommended extensive policies to focus on creating a skilled workforce to accelerate India’s economic growth and achieve the goal of becoming a developed country by the year 2047.
Sitharaman said that as part of this effort, 1,000 ITIs will be upgraded on the hub-and-spoke model.
She also announced that students will be able to secure loans of up to Rs 10 lakh for higher education to study in domestic institutions of India.
Overall, the Budget 2024 provided an allocation of Rs 1.48 trillion towards education, employment, and skilling of youth. This is a substantial increase of 30 per cent compared to the previous financial year.
In her speech, Sithraman reiterated that youth, poor, women and farmers are the four main development focus areas of the Narendra Modi government.
At the start of her presentation, she said the Budget is based on nine key priorities laid out by the Centre, which include employment, social justice, urban development, energy security among other goals.
First Published: Jul 23 2024 | 12:10 PM IST
