India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the budget for the eighth consecutive time. Budget 2025 for the third term of the Modi government is going to be challenging in many ways. Maintaining the growth journey of the Indian economy amid global challenges is the biggest challenge for the government. On the other hand, the common man of the country is hoping for relief from rising inflation, unemployment and tax burden.

Bringing the slow pace of the economy back on track is a challenge.

The slowdown in the pace of the Indian economy in recent months has increased the concern of global investors. Due to this, the domestic stock market has seen a continuous decline during the last few months. This also increases the challenge on the employment front. People are not getting wages in comparison to inflation, due to which they are facing many difficulties.

Let us know about the five fronts on which Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman needs to take steps in the interest of the common man of the country on 01 February 2025.

1. Inflation

Inflation has increased rapidly in the country in the last few months. Especially the increase in the prices of food items, vegetables, edible oils, and milk has directly affected the kitchen of the common man. Due to bad weather, the supply of vegetables and pulses was affected and these things almost disappeared from the plate of the common man. There was a big increase in the prices of edible oils and the reason for this was the increase in import duty. The prices of milk were also increased citing increased production costs, which also increased the burden on the people. In such a situation, the inflation-stricken public is expecting such policy announcements in the budget on February 01, which can give them relief from inflation in the coming years.

2. Slowdown in growth rate

According to the National Statistical Office, the growth rate of the Indian economy is estimated to be 6.4% in 2024-25. This is the lowest estimate of growth rate after the Corona crisis. However, experts believe that the country's GDP growth rate was affected by the slowdown in capital expenditure on infrastructure after the general elections in 2024 and it may pick up pace again in the coming year.

3. Employment

In the last few months, the figures for new employment in the country have been less than expected. On this front too, concrete measures are expected from Finance Minister Nirmala Sitarama in Budget 2025. A large population of youth in the country is struggling for jobs. Recruitment in government jobs is not happening as expected, in private jobs there is a situation of more hard work and less income, due to which the youth are disappointed. There has been a lot of opposition among the youth waiting for jobs on contractual recruitment and schemes like Agneepath in the army.

4. Slow increase in salary

The income of the people has not increased at the pace at which inflation has increased in the country in the last few years. This is also a big reason for the decrease in consumption among the people of the country. Experts consider the slow pace of salary increases in workers and middle-income jobs as the reason for the decrease in consumption. According to experts, despite the increase in the profits of the corporate world, the salary of the people has not increased in proportion to inflation. The investigation of industry organization FICCI and staffing solution company Quess Corp also shows the same.

5. Income Tax
In the last few years, people have not got any special relief on the income tax front in the country's budget. Every year the government makes some announcements on income tax in the budget, but the common man and especially the working class, who are burdened by taxes, have not gotten any major relief from this. This time in the budget, many organizations have demanded the government to increase the scope of income tax exemption to Rs 10 lakh. Labor organizations associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh have also made such a demand. In such a situation, deciding to reduce the burden of income tax in this budget is a big task for the government.

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