Key Highlights
- Comprehensive customs‑duty waiver on 25 strategically vital minerals to spur sectors such as space, defence, and renewable energy.
- Extension of the MSME loan‑guarantee framework to cover critical‑mineral projects, augmenting credit access for small enterprises.
- Increase of the insurance‑sector investment ceiling from 74% to 100%, broadening capital participation.
- Launch of the PM Dhan Dhaanya Krishi Yojana targeting 100 low‑productivity districts, aiming to reach 1.7 crore farmers with irrigation upgrades and credit facilities.
- Expansion of university coverage under student‑loan schemes to improve higher‑education accessibility.
Detailed Insights
The 2025 Union Budget foregrounds a dual strategy of accelerating economic momentum while insulating the nation against energy and food vulnerabilities. By eradicating import levies on a curated list of 25 minerals—ranging from rare‑earth elements to lithium—the government intends to secure domestic supply chains for high‑technology, defence, and clean‑energy applications. Simultaneously, the MSME Mutual Credit Guarantee Scheme has been broadened to encompass projects that harness these minerals, thereby lowering financing costs for micro‑ and small‑scale manufacturers.
In the financial sector, the ceiling governing insurance‑company investments in non‑life assets has been lifted to a full 100%, a move designed to deepen market liquidity and diversify risk exposure. Education reforms feature the inclusion of additional universities within the existing student‑loan architecture, facilitating greater enrollment among economically disadvantaged cohorts.
On the agrarian front, the PM Dhan Dhaanya Krishi Yojana seeks to overturn chronic under‑performance in 100 districts identified as low‑yield zones. The scheme integrates short‑term working‑capital loans, long‑term credit for mechanization, and substantial irrigation infrastructure upgrades, projected to uplift 1.7 crore cultivators and reinforce national food security.