Pre-Budget meetings to begin from December 5

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and his team will begin consultations with stakeholders and interest groups for Union Budget 2018-19 from December 5.

Ahead of what is expected to be a populist document, as the Budget will be the last one before the general elections of 2019, Jaitley and ministry officials are expected to listen to the demands of representatives of the agriculture sector on December 5, trade unions on December 6, bankers and members of the tech and start-up segment on December 15 and economists on December 16, officials said.

There are expected be other meetings, with industry bodies and service sector representatives. The dates for these, however, are not yet known. The ministry will over December and January also meet other central government departments to finalise spending estimates for the next year.

The other officials attending all these meetings could include the five secretaries in the finance ministry and the Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian.