India’s economic growth has been inclusive, has generated employment and has kept inflation under check, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday, as the Lok Sabha passed the Finance Bill, 2024, thus completing the exercise for the passage of the interim budget 2024-25.

She added that the Centre is scrupulously devolving funds to all states, including Karnataka, which is even more than what has been recommended by theFinance Commission.

Participating in a debate on Union government’s interim budget for FY25 and the interim budget for Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in the Lok Sabha, she said that the government’s policies have helped in creation of jobs. Replying to remarks made by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor where he raised the employment issues, the finance minister said: “The labour force in the country has increased from 49.8% in 2017-18 to 57.9% in 2022-23.”

Unemployment rate has also decreased from 6% in 2017-18 to 3.2% in 2022-23, she said. “This is the data I’m officially giving in the House to the honourable member [Tharoor],” she added. Since May 2020-23, the number of net new subscribers to Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in the age group of 18-25 years has consistently exceeded 55% of the total net new subscribers, she said. “So, distinctly the numbers show that people are getting enrolled in jobs,” she added.

The participation of women in the labour force has also risen to 37% in 2022-23, signifying substantial increase in women coming to the workforce, she said. “During 2022-23, total of 28.7 lakh (2.87 million) net female subscribers were added on to EPFO… So women are coming into formal jobs,” she said.

The participation of women is also rising in the unorganised sector, she said. Of the total registration of over 290 million unorganised workers on the E-Shram portal, 53% are women. “So, you find that significantly more number of women are coming to join the workforce,” she added.

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday also passed the interim budget for 2024-25 and the second supplementary demands for grants (2023-24) of the Union government. It also passed the interim budget of J&K for FY25 and its supplementary demands for grants for 2023-24. The House approved the budgets and appropriation bills by voice vote.

Speaking about the Union interim budget for FY25, she said the government has kept the spirit of Vote on Accounts. She highlighted the fact that an outlay of ₹11,11,111 crore has been kept in the interim budget for capital expenditure in 2024-25 – a 16.9% hike over the Revised Estimates of 2023-24. “This outlay is higher than the projected GDP growth rate of 10.5%,” she said, stressing on the government’s continued focus on infrastructure development to maintain growth momentum.

The government has been “fairly prudent” in remaining on the path of fiscal consolidation, Sitharaman said, as the budget revised the fiscal deficit estimate for FY24 to 5.8% of GDP from 5.9% estimated in the previous budget. The government has also targeted a fiscal deficit of 5.1% in FY25, revising the earlier estimate of 5.2% by “one notch down” because of efficient management of revenue and expenditure.

She added that despite it being an interim budget, the government raised or maintained allocations on an annualised basis for key sectors such as education, health and family welfare, ministry of minority affairs, rural development, women and child welfare. “So nowhere has there been a reduction,” she told the House.

On the supplementary demand for FY24, she explained where the money would be spent. “Department of fertilizers gets ₹3,000 crore for nutrient-based subsidy scheme for P&K-fertilizer subsidy going to farmers,” she said. Similarly, the supplementary demands included ₹9,231 crore for the department of food and public distribution for the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), ₹13,548 crore for the defence services for revenue expenditure, and ₹5,000 crore to the department of economic affairs for transfer to senior citizen welfare fund. It also included ₹3,000 crore for J&K to meet additional expenditure as central assistance.

She said that J&K’s interim budget for FY25 is of ₹59,364 crore, which is only for the part-year, and the entire year’s BE is ₹1,18,728 crore. She sought ₹8,713 crore as supplementary demand for grants for J&K in 2023-24, primarily for repayment of debts and also for power procurement.

Retail inflation has declined from an average of 6.8% in April-December 2022, to 5.5% in the corresponding period during 2023, she said. “Retail inflation is now stable and within the notified tolerance band of 2-6%. The core inflation has actually declined from 5.1% in April 2023 to 3.8% in December 2023,” she said.

In order to keep inflation under check and help people with limited means, the government has launched subsidised “Bharat” brand food items such as aata (flour), dal (pulses), and rice. “Bharat Aata for instance is priced at ₹27.50 per kg,” she said. 237,000 metric tonnes of it has been sold as on January 28, 2024, she said. Similarly 297,000 metric tonnes of Bharat dal, through which chana dal is sold at ₹60 and ₹55/kg depending on packet-size, has been sold as of January 30, 2024.

On Karnataka government’s recent allegations that Centre has not released ample money to states, Sitharaman said: “I want to assure this House and I’ll give you the data, whatever the Finance Commission has recommended, I follow it to the last word.” Additionally, Karnataka has also been provided interest-free loan for 50 years for undertaking infrastructure development, she said. Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah alleged that the Centre is not releasing tax share due to the state.