The 2023-24 Union Budget, presented by Nirmala Sitaraman, the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, in Parliament on Wednesday, included significant announcements aimed at benefiting senior citizens and women.
Senior Citizens
The maximum deposit limit for Senior Citizen Savings Scheme will be enhanced from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 30 lakh. The maximum deposit limit for Monthly Income Account Scheme will be enhanced from Rs 4.5 lakh to Rs 9 lakh for single account and from Rs 9 lakh to Rs 15 lakh for joint account.
Mahila Samman Bachat Patra
A one-time new small savings scheme, Mahila Samman Savings Certificate, will be made available for a two-year period up to March 2025. This will offer deposit facility up to Rs 2 lakh in the name of women or girls for a tenure of 2 years at fixed interest rate of 7.5% with partial withdrawal option.
Youth Power
The FM also announced that Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0 will be launched to skill lakhs of youth within the next three years. On-job training, industry partnership, and alignment of courses with the needs of the industry will be emphasized. The scheme will also cover new age courses for Industry 4.0 like coding, AI, robotics, mechatronics, IOT, 3D printing, drones, and soft skills. She also announced that to skill youth for international opportunities, 30 Skill India International Centres will be set up across different States. Sitharaman said that to provide stipend support to 47 lakh youth in three years, Direct Benefit Transfer under a pan-India National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme will be rolled out.
