New Delhi, Feb 2 (PTI) Hailing the Union Budget as "prudent budget amidst challenges", the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) on Sunday said it has tried to address all the key concerns to take the country's economy forward and also make it self-reliant.

The SJM is an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Presenting the Union Budget for 2025-26 in Lok Sabha on Saturday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made a slew of announcements and also exempted annual income of up to Rs 12 lakh from income tax, rejigging tax slabs.

In her budget speech, she laid out a blueprint for next-generation reforms, including raising the FDI limit in the insurance sector, simplification of tax laws and cutting duties on intermediaries while providing enhanced fiscal support for welfare measures.

It's a "prudent budget amidst various challenges" the country was facing, the SJM co-convenor Ashwani Mahajan said in a statement.

"Concerns were being expressed about health of the economy due to deceleration in GDP growth in last two quarters, depreciating rupee, continuing inflation, decline in consumption, rising trade deficit, declining forex reserves," he said.

It was a "real challenge" for the government to spur manufacturing growth, push for self-reliance in agriculture, support farmers and address imbalance in agriculture production, reduce dependence on foreign countries regarding pulses and edible oils, and also give tax relief to middle-income taxpayers, and address the inflationary concerns at the same time, Mahajan added.

"Budget 2025-26 has tried to balance all these concerns and take the economy forward," he added.

Mahajan said the Budget has given a push to the manufacturing sector in the country. The MSME manufacturing mission, enhanced credit guarantee for the MSME, credit card for micro-enterprises, the extension of the PLI beyond an earlier list and several other measures proposed in the Budget to improve manufacturing will insulate the country from "Chinese dominance", he said.

"The Swadeshi Jagaran Manch was demanding a well-defined manufacturing policy in the country for a long time. The present endeavour of the government will go a long way towards this goal," he added.

Mahajan said the Union Budget has also tried to remove obstacles in the clean tech path, by way of push given to lithium batteries, motors for electric vehicles and other clean-tech manufacturing.

"It's important to note that due to our excessive dependence on imported batteries, motors for electric vehicles and also solar cells, our import bill has been rising and in future, the nation could be even exploited due to our dependence on imported components," he said.

"Therefore, it is giving a push to Aatmanirbhar Bharat and saving the nation from exploitation by foreigners," he added.

The SJM co-convenor said the Budget has also tried to give a push to the health and agriculture sector and bridge the rural-urban gaps as well.

"Budget 2025-26 does much more to push rural incomes. Apart from raising the Kisan Credit Card limit, agriculture push, food processing push and many more efforts to raise rural incomes can go a long way to reduce rural-urban disparities," he said.

Allocation of Rs 98,311 crore for the healthcare sector in the Budget indicates a "significant push" for growth, Mahajan said.

Key measures like customs duty exemptions on life-saving drugs and the establishment of daycare cancer centres are some of the essential steps the Budget has made, he said.

"The SJM welcomes the budget announcement for recognising gig workers," Mahajan added. PTI PK SKY SKY

Tax relief for middle income taxpayers paired with manufacturing and self reliance incentives and expanded rural health support. The Budget reconfigures tax slabs to afford middle income tax relief, simplifies tax laws, reduces intermediary duties and expands fiscal welfare support while liberalising insurance sector FDI. It promotes manufacturing through extension of PLI, enhanced MSME credit guarantees, micro enterprise credit cards, and measures to localise clean tech components. Concurrently it boosts agriculture and rural incomes via higher credit limits and food processing support, increases healthcare allocation with exemptions for life saving drugs and daycare cancer centres, and recognises gig workers.