New Delhi, July 7 (Agency) Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has concluded her pre-Budget consultations with industry, trade, economists and farmers among other key stakeholders to gather suggestions and inputs, an official statement said on Sunday. The full Budget for financial year 2024-25 will be presented on July 23, a day after the Budget session of the Parliament begins. During her pre-Budget consultations, Sitharaman met over 120 invitees across 10 stakeholder groups, including experts and representatives from trade and industry, farmer associations, trade unions, economists and experts from various sectors. “In the course of the consultations, Sitharaman expressed gratitude to the participants for sharing valuable suggestions and assured experts and representatives that their suggestions would be carefully examined and considered while preparing the Union Budget 2024-25,” an official statement said here.
Union Ministers of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary and top officials of the Finance Ministry also attended the meetings. The pre-Budget consultations that started on June 19 in the Ministry of Finance concluded on July 5. The Finance Minister had presented an interim Budget for 2024-25 in February this year due to general elections. The forthcoming Budget would be the first of the Modi 3.0 government and it is widely expected that the government’s first major policy document could lay the blueprint for India becoming the third largest economy in the world over the next few years and also a developed country by 2047. In her address to the joint sitting of Parliament on June 27, President Droupadi Murmu had said that the Budget 2024-25 will be an effective document of the government’s far-reaching policies and futuristic vision. “Along with major economic and social decisions, many historic steps will also be seen in this Budget. The pace of reforms will be further accelerated in tune with the aspirations of people for rapid development,” Murmu had said. Industry experts and policy-watchers expect the upcoming Budget to continue focus on higher capital expenditure and take more steps to boost the manufacturing sector. The Budget may also provide sops and come up with schemes to push rural growth.