India’s government on Wednesday vowed to increase capital spending by a third to Rs10tn ($122.3bn) over the coming fiscal year, as it unveiled a business-friendly budget meant to spur growth and please key constituencies ahead of an upcoming general election.
Nirmala Sitharaman, the finance minister, told parliament India would cut taxes for the “hard-working middle class” and would also reduce the top income-tax rate of 42.7 per cent to 39 per cent in the last full-year budget before prime minister Narendra Modi faces voters in April and May of 2024.
“Investment in infrastructure and productivity have a large multiplier impact on growth and employment,” Sitharaman said in a speech interrupted by chants of “Modi, Modi” from ruling Bharatiya Janata party MPs and shouted heckling by the opposition.