The government is set to release its interim budget for 2024 on Thursday, ahead of the country's highly anticipated general elections. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be presenting the pre-election budget for the fiscal year which runs from April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025.

The interim budget during an election year is aimed at meeting immediate financial needs before a new government is formed. The full-fledged union budget will only be released after the elections, which will take place between April and May.

Typically, the interim budget won't include big and sweeping policy announcements. So here is what the industry experts from different sectors expect from this budget.

“Although there would be some buildup of expectations ahead of the vote on account, we think that major policy reforms and announcements may get postponed to the regular Budget due in June/July 2024,” said Dhiraj Relli, CEO at HDFC Securities.

He expects that the government will likely stay on the fiscal course-correction path in the Interim Budget for FY25, shunning populist spending or incentives ahead of the general election. 

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The sentiment was shared by Sonam Srivastava, founder and fund manager at Wright Research as she also expects a continued focus on fiscal consolidation to maintain investor confidence and long-term economic stability. “Additionally, measures to address inflation and rationalise tax policies could stimulate investments and incentivize businesses, setting a positive tone for the year.” she added.

During the Interim Budget, she expects sectors like infrastructure, agriculture, banking and finance, and renewable energy to be in focus.

Sarvjeet Virk, co-founder and managing director, Finvasia expects a continued focus on advancing India’s digital public infrastructure during the interim budget. “On the tech front, I hope to see further progress in establishing AI Centres of Excellence. I also expect more policies to enable public-private partnerships to boost end-use cases of generative and predictive AI and increase its adoption in India. Government support, both in terms of policies and funding, will be instrumental in propelling the fintech sector to new heights of success,” he told Benzinga India.

With the events of the past few weeks, the domestic tourism sector has gained the spotlight, people from the sector will be looking at the budget to provide further impetus to the sector.

EaseMyTrip‘s co-founder Nishant Pitti said that he expects crucial reforms to strengthen and revitalize the tourism sector. “We expect the Government to allow GST input on holiday businesses, a strategic reduction in income tax to catalyze growth in the country’s tourism industry, and the streamlining of the TCS structure to a more favourable 5% slab.”

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