On Thursday, the Rajya Sabha returned the Finance Bill 2025 to the Lok Sabha, accompanied by 35 government amendments, marking the completion of the 2025-26 budget process that began on February 1.

In response to the debate on the Finance Bill, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that the ministry’s approach would be to exercise caution and safeguard revenues. “But, here we wanted to show our respect for the Indian taxpayer. We have moved towards setting Rs 12 lakh as threshold, up to which no one will have to pay any tax,” she said.

Sitharaman stated that the aim of the Finance Bill was to provide tax certainty and foster ease of doing business. “Budget after budget, we are reducing duty to meet India’s aspiration of becoming a manufacturing hub for batteries,” she said.

Sitharaman declared that lower customs duties would enable government backing of small and medium industry sectors importing intermediate materials.

The Budget received criticism from Congress leader P. Chidambaram who accused it of disappearing yet Sitharaman demonstrated that India moved from its 10th position as a global economy in 2014 to its current ranking of fifth-largest economy internationally.

According to Chidambaram the fiscal deficit stood at 4.5% when NDA took power in May 2014 and it was predicted to achieve 4.8% by 2024-25 thus resuming the economy at the same level as its starting point.

According to Sitharaman the government established full compensation between pre-Seventh Pay Commission pensioners and those covered by the Seventh Pay Commission for the first time. In the upcoming fiscal year the total planned government expenses reach Rs 50.65 trillion according to the Budget for 2025-26 which holds a 7.4% growth rate. A total of Rs 11.22 trillion is allocated for capital expenditure in the proposed budget of the upcoming fiscal year while the planned effective capital expenditure reaches Rs 15.48 trillion.