The third Union Budget of the Narendra Modi led Government was declared today. The budget was presented by India’s finance minister Arun Jaitley who said that, the Indian economy has held strong in spite of the slowdown in the global economy. The GDP growth rate has increased to 7.6% which is a positive signal for the economic performance of the country. This year’s budget was based on nine key pillars which are as follows:

1. Agriculture and farmers' welfare
2. Rural sector
3. Social sector & Healthcare
4. Education, skills and job creation
5. Infrastructure
6. Financial sector reforms
7. Ease of doing business
8. Fiscal discipline
9. Tax reforms to reduce compliance burden

The Education sector has received a lot of attention in this year’s budget. The budget proposals for the education sector are aimed at skill development, improving the quality of higher education and boosting education sector in India. Here are a few highlights:

• INR 689.68 billion is allocated for the entire education sector.
• A fund worth INR 10 billion was declared for improvement of infrastructure in higher education institutions.
• INR 10 billion allocated to setup an agency to finance higher education.
• 10 institutions each from public and private sector to be developed as world class teaching institutions.
• INR 17 billion will be used to setup multi skill development centres that will help students to build, develop and enhance their skills.
• In order to encourage and boost entrepreneurship, training will be provided across schools, colleges and through online courses.

British Council India will keep you informed of further development in the budget announcements.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/business/budget/live-union-budget-201617/article8293531.ece

For more information please write to Shruti Khanna with a cc to SIEM South Asia.