Budget 2025 gives equal priority to infra, industry, people and innovation: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the priority given to infrastructure and industries in the Union Budget 2025 is same as the priority given to people, economy and innovation.

"We have given people, economy and innovation same priority as infrastructure and industries in investment," the prime minister said while addressing a post-budget webinar on boosting job creation.

This year's budget reflects this theme on a large scale and serves as a blueprint for India's future, said Modi.

“Capacity building and talent nurturing are foundation stones for the country’s progress. That’s why the next phase of development will see more investments in these areas. For this all stakeholders will have to come forward because this is key to India’s economic success,” PM Modi said.

This year's Union Budget paves the way for a stronger workforce and a growing economy, he added.

The vision for investment in people stands on three pillars: education, health and skills. India’s education system, after several decades, is going through a transformation, said Modi. He emphasised key initiatives such as the National Education Policy, the expansion of IITs, the integration of technology into the education system, and the utilisation of AI's full potential.

The future of the nation is determined by investments in innovation, the prime minister said, urging the private sector to be one step ahead of the world in Artificial Intelligence (AI).

According to PM Modi, AI can boost India’s economy by several lakhs of crore. "That’s why we need to move forward in this direction. In the Budget, AI-driven education and research have been allotted ₹500 crore. India will establish a national large language model," said Modi.

"The world awaits a reliable, safe and democratic nation that can provide economical AI-based solutions," Modi said, emphasising that investments made in this sector today will yield significant advantages in the future.

The prime minister said India's private sector, especially the real estate industry, should focus on planned urbanisation. "By 2047, the population in Indian cities is expected to go up to 90 crore. For this population, there is a need for planned urbanisation. We have set aside ₹1 lakh crore for urban challenge fund to focus on governance, infrastructure and financial sustainability," he said.

"Cities will be known sustainable urban mobility, digital integration and climate resilience plans," he added.

There is a need for special focus on tourism, said Modi. "The contribution of travel and tourism to India’s GDP is expected to go up to 10%. This sector has the potential to employ crores of people. The Union Budget has announced measures to increase domestic and international tourism. 50 destinations will be developed for tourism. In these destinations, hotels will get infrastructure status, which will increase ease of doing business, providing employment to locals. Campaigns like Heal in India and Land of the Buddha are being used to attract foreign tourists to India," the prime minister said.

PM Modi exhorted the industry to invest in wellness tourism. “We are making efforts to make India a tourism and wellness hub.”

To promote start-ups and research and development, the government has announced ₹1 lakh crore of corpus, said PM Modi. Indian startups ecosystem received a prominent mention in the budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The government has announced further ₹10,000 crore funding support to the Fund of Funds.