FM to start pre-budget interactions from tomorrow

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will start  his pre-budget consultations with various stake holders from  tomorrow. The budget is likely to be presented in the first week of July.

The first to interact  with him  would  be representatives from  agriculture sector, an official statement said today.

The consultations assume importance in the wake of  fears expressed in various  quarters  over emergence of  El Nino that may reduce the monsoon rain. Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast a slight sub-normal rain in the 2014 monsoon.

Agriculture was one of the few sectors that gave  some push to gross domestic product growth in 2013-14. It grew 4.7% against just  1.4% in the previous year. The farm sector  growth stood a whopping 6.3% in the fourth quarter against 3.4% in the third quarter.

In  the evening tomorrow, social sector representatives  will meet  the finance  minister. There are speculations that various social sector  schemes  like Mahatma  Gandhi National Rural  Employment  Guarantee  Act  (MGNREA) may  be tweaked by the new government.

On Friday, the  finance  minister will meet industry and trade chambers and associations.

Industry chambers have been asking the new government to revive the investment cycle to perk up growth.

Trade associations may raise the issue  of still fragile  recovery in  exports. The outbound  shipments rose 5.36 per  cent in April after falling for  two consecutive  months.