LIVE: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s first TV interview after the budget, watch live on News18 India shortly

New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman gave her first TV interview to News18 after presenting the Budget 2023-24. News18 Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi spoke to him about the budget, which will be broadcast on News18 India from 2 pm. The Finance Minister will explain in detail what the Budget-2023 means for investors, consumers, taxpayers and the economy. Significantly, on February 1, Nirmala Sitharaman presented the last full budget of the Modi 2.0 government before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He had said in his speech that the first budget of Amrit Kaal would provide the basis for fulfilling the resolutions of a developed India. The deprived have been given priority in this budget. The Finance Minister had said that this budget will fulfill the dreams of the aspirational society of India including the poor, middle class and farmers.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made a big announcement in the budget of 2023-24 to make annual income up to 7 lakh tax-free under the new tax regime. Apart from this, he said that the new tax regime would be ‘default’. That is, while filling ITR, taxpayers will have to choose the old tax regime. If they do not do this, their ITR will automatically be filed under the new tax regime. In addition, the Finance Minister provided customs duty relief for one year on imports of certain parts and inputs such as lithium-ion cells for camera lenses and mobile phone batteries. In the budget, the Finance Minister announced an increase in basic customs duty on kitchen chimneys from 7 to 15 per cent, on bicycles from 30 per cent to 35 per cent and on imported toys (excluding parts of electronic toys) from 60 per cent to 70 per cent.