Agri budget rises 5 times in 9 years to over Rs 1.25 lakh cr: PM Modi

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the Union Budget 2023-24, like in the previous 8-9 years, focuses on the agriculture sector, and steps are being taken to reduce India's import dependence on oilseeds and edible oils.

Addressing a post-budget webinar with stakeholders of agriculture and cooperative sectors, the Prime Minister said India's agriculture budget has increased many-folds to Rs 1.25 lakh crore.

''Before we came to power in 2014, the budget for the agriculture sector was less than Rs 25,000 crore. Today the country's agriculture budget is more than Rs 1.25 lakh crore,'' he said.

He said the government has been working on a mission mode to boost domestic production of pulses and oilseeds. He noted that India spends around Rs 1.5 lakh crore on import of cooking oil.

The Prime Minister also highlighted that the Budget focuses on agri-tech startups and an accelerator fund too has been proposed to create new funding avenues for them.

He observed that the number of startups in the agriculture sector has increased to more than 3,000 from almost negligible nine year ago.

Modi also said a new revolution is taking place in the cooperative sector. He further said the cooperative sector, which was only limited to a few states earlier, is now being expanded across the country.

This was the second webinar addressed by the Prime Minister. On Thursday, he had elaborately spoken on the topic of green growth. In all, he is scheduled to address 12 post-budget webinars till March 11.

The webinars are being organised by various ministries/departments to build on the ''Saptarishi'' priorities outlined in the Union Budget 2023-24.

The idea of post-budget webinars was conceptualised by the Prime Minister to bring together all stakeholders for bringing synergy in implementation of Budget announcements, an official statement had said earlier this week.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha on February 1.