FM to hold pre-Budget consultations with stakeholders beginning Wed

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will kick start the customary pre-Budget consultation exercise with stakeholders from Wednesday by holding the first such meeting with experts of agriculture and agro-processing industry.

She will be seeking inputs from various stakeholders, including industry bodies, farmer organisations and economists for reviving consumption and boosting growth hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The growth this year is expected to be in the double-digit during the current fiscal. The RBI in its latest bi-monthly monetary policy review pegged a GDP growth of 9.5 per cent in 2021-22.

The government has projected a fiscal deficit of 6.8 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

"Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman will start her Pre-Budget consultations with different stakeholder Groups from tomorrow, 15th Dec 2021 in New Delhi in connection with the forthcoming General Budget 2022-23. The meetings will be held virtually," the finance ministry said in a tweet.

The Budget 2022-23 is likely to be presented on February 1 during the first half of the Parliament's Budget session which usually begins in the last week of January every year.

"Finance minister Smt @nsitharaman will be holding her 1st Pre-Budget consultations with experts of Agriculture and Agro-processing industry tomorrow afternoon, 15th Dec 2021," another tweet said.

The budget for the next year will have to address critical issues of demand generation, job creation and putting the economy on a sustained 8 per cent plus growth path.

The Budget 2022-23 would come against the backdrop of surging cases of Omicron variant. The impact of this on economy, however, is likely to be less severe due to rapid vaccination.

India will be among only a few economies in the world to rebound strongly from COVID-19 induced economic contraction of 2020-21, a Finance Ministry report said.

Real GDP in the second quarter of FY2021-22 has grown by 8.4 per cent YoY, recovering more than 100 per cent of the pre-pandemic output in the corresponding quarter of FY2019-20, said the monthly Economic Review prepared by the Finance Ministry.

"India is among the few countries that have recorded four consecutive quarters of growth amid Covid-19 (Q3, Q4 of FY21 and Q1, Q2 of FY22) reflecting the resilience of the Indian economy. The recovery was driven by a revival in services, full-recovery in manufacturing and sustained growth in agriculture sectors," it said.

The recovery suggests kick-starting of the investment cycle, supported by surging vaccination coverage and efficient economic management activating the macro and micro drivers of growth, the report said.