India Budget 2024: Lakshadweep finds mention in Finance Minister Sitharaman's speech

India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her interim Budget 2024 on Thursday (Feb 1), said that the government will invest significantly in the country's tourism sector.

But what attracted everyone's attention was the mention of Lakshadweep, which recently gained fame after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the island.

The minister said that the government will give undivided attention to the island Union Territory of Lakshadweep to improve its tourisminfrastructure.

Here's what FM Sitharaman said about Lakshadweep

"The success of organizing G20 meetings in sixty places presented a diversity of India to a global audience. Our economic strength has made the country an attractive destination for business and conference tourism. Our middle class also now aspires to travel and explore. Tourism, including spiritual tourism, has tremendous opportunities for local entrepreneurship," said the minister, while speaking about how tourism has been boosted in the country.

"States will be encouraged to take up comprehensive development of iconic tourist centres, branding and marketing them at a global scale. A framework for rating of the centres based on the quality of facilities and services will be established. Long-term interest free loans will be provided to States for financing such development on a matching basis," Sitharaman added.

Watch:India Budget 2024: Nirmala Sitharaman says, 'GST enabled one nation, one market, one tax' \

"To address the emerging fervour for domestic tourism, projects for port connectivity, tourism infrastructure, and amenities will be taken up on our islands, including Lakshadweep. This will help in generating employment also," the minister further said.

A lot of Indians have been seeing Lakshadweep as an alternative destination after it landed in a diplomatic row with the Maldives, an archipelago nation which had been attracting Indians in large numbers.

(With inputs from agencies)