This budget foundation stone for future India: Piyush Goyal

New Delhi, Feb 7: Union Minister Piyush Goyal Sunday termed this year's Budget the "foundation stone for the India of future" and hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for giving the country a "visionary budget".

Speaking at the Delhi BJP office, the Minister of Commerce and Industry said the five Atmanirbhar Bharat packages announced over the course of several months last year and this budget can be compared with the finance minister "hitting a sixer" in cricketing terms.

"This is a government that thinks of making India future-ready all the time. And this budget is the foundation stone for the India of future...If you look at the five Atmanirbhar Bharat packages and this budget, you can say the finance minister has hit a sixer in the form of this budget," said Goyal, who is also the Railway Minister. He said that the budget takes care of every section of the society without putting extra load on the taxpayer, and despite a resource-constraint and a possibility of reduced revenue till next year.

"This budget was prepared with a foresight, a vision. And it takes care of every section of the society be it farmers, small businessmen, or the middle class. The finance minister has also managed to give impetus to the economy through this budget as well as prepared the country for the future," Goyal said.

He added that India can become "atmanirbhar" (self-reliant) only when it moves forward with "atmavishwas" (self-confidence). "This is also a budget of self-confidence, a budget to make India self-reliant. With this budget, the nation is moving towards development through employment opportunities, encouraging entrepreneurship and startups.

"he time is gone when the youth ran only after government jobs. With a new excitement in the young and startup companies, they are becoming job-creators and not job-seekers," the minister said.