FinMin concludes pre-Budget talks with 120 invitees, 10 stakeholder groups

Representatives from agriculture, education, health, MSME, energy, infrastructure sectors were the participants

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The Finance Ministry has concluded pre-Budget consultations with 10 stakeholder groups, including representatives from agriculture, education, health, micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME), energy and infrastructure sectors, among others, on July 5, a press statement issued on Sunday stated.

The in-person consultations with more than 120 invitees started on June 19 and highlighted the concerns around jobs and growth for the upcoming Budget.

The first full Budget of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance will be presented on July 23. 

Last month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired a meeting with finance ministers of different states and union territories to get their suggestions for Budget 2024-25.

Staying on the fiscal consolidation path and extending production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes to small & medium enterprises (SMEs) and labour-intensive sectors to create jobs and boost consumption were among key suggestions the FM received.

Industry representatives also emphasised the need to take measures for job creation and provide budgetary support to encourage students and professionals pursue GenAI courses.

Enhancing PM-KISAN support to Rs 8,000 per year from the existing Rs 6,000, more funds for agriculture research and transfer of all subsidies to farmers through direct benefit transfer was also on the table for the upcoming Budget.

Trade unions, meanwhile, have demanded restoration of the Old Pension Scheme and scrapping of the four labour codes.

They have suggested halting the privatisation of public sector undertakings (PSUs) as well.

Industry bodies have also asked the finance minister to consider increasing the capital expenditure (capex) by 25 per cent from the revised estimate. This would provide space to deploy additional resources for rural areas in housing, agriculture, warehousing and irrigation, among others.

The increased capex, they argued, would give impetus to jobs in rural areas and fuel demand.

The upcoming Budget would be closely watched to see how the finance ministry decides to deploy the bumper Reserve Bank of India (RBI) dividend of Rs 2.11 trillion. This amount has provided the government with a fiscal cushion to manage expenditure expectations.

The government had set the FY25 fiscal deficit target at 5.1 per cent (Rs 16.85 trillion) of the gross domestic product (GDP) and revised the FY24 target to 5.8 per cent from the earlier projection of 5.9 per cent. The fiscal deficit narrowed further to 5.6 per cent in FY24.

The pre-Budget consultations were attended by FM’s Budget team, including T V Somanathan, finance secretary; Ajay Seth, secretary, economic affairs; Tuhin K. Pandey, DIPAM secretary; Vivek Joshi, secretary, financial services; Sanjay Malhotra, revenue secretary and V. Anantha Nageswaran, chief economic adviser, among other senior officers.