PM Narendra Modi calls Union Budget 2018 an all-friendly budget

New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday hailed Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for presenting an all-friendly budget with a focus on agriculture, health and small businesses.

"This budget is farmer friendly, common citizen friendly, business environment friendly and development friendly. It will add to ease of living," Modi said in his first reaction after Jaitley presented the 2018-19 budget in the Lok Sabha.

"I congratulate the Finance Minister for the decision regarding MSP. I am sure it will help farmers tremendously," he said, referring to Jaitley's announcement that the Minimum Support Price for notified kharif crops will be 1.5 times the input cost.

The government also stepped up the institutional credit for the sector to Rs 11 lakh crore.