Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman kicked off customary pre-budget consultations with various stakeholders. The meetings were held virtually and Union ministers of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary, Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, and other senior officials also attended the meeting.
“Union Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman chairs her 1st #PreBudget2023 consultation with the first group of captains from Industry & experts of #Infrastructure and #ClimateChange, in New Delhi, today,” the Ministry of Finance said in a tweet.
“The 2nd #PreBudget2023 meeting is being attended by MoS Finance Shri @mppchaudhary and Dr @DrBhagwatKarad ; Finance Secretary Dr T.V. Somanathan; Secretaries of DEA, @SecyDIPAM, DoR, @DFS_India, CEA Dr Anantha Nageswaran & Senior Economic Advisor @FinMinIndia,” it added.
The Budget 2023-24 is slated to be presented on February 1 during the first half of Parliament’s Budget session which usually starts in the last week of January every year.
On Tuesday (November 22), FM Sitharaman would meet agriculture and agro processing industry, representatives from the financial sector and capital markets. This will be followed by a meeting with the representatives of service and trade sector and social sector, including health, education, rural development, and water and sanitation on Thursday (November 24).
On November 28, FM Sitharaman will hold the pre-budget talks with the trade union representatives and economists.
The participants will give suggestions on the 2023-24 Budget, and this would be the last full Budget of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in its second term.
It is important to mention in this context that the government will release official gross domestic product (GDP) numbers for the second quarter will be released on 30 November. Most forecasts are in line with the RBI’s monetary policy committee’s prediction of 6.3 per cent for the second quarter.
The centre has set a target of lowering its fiscal deficit to 4.5 per cent of GDP by 2025-26. In 2020-21, the fiscal deficit soared to 9.2 per cent of GDP. The next year (2021-22) saw the deficit falling to 6.7 per cent of GDP. This year, the finance ministry has targeted to cut the fiscal deficit to 6.4 per cent of GDP.
Plus, this year the direct and indirect taxes have seen healthy growth, but they may not be adequate to offset the jump in food and fertiliser subsidies. To stick to the fiscal deficit target of 6.4 per cent of GDP, the centre is looking at cutting non-priority spending.
