Pre-Budget Consultations: FM Sitharaman To Meet Infrastructure, Financial Stakeholders On Thursday

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold a two-phase meeting with industry, infrastructure, financial and capital market experts on Thursday, the second day of the pre-budget meeting.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addresses a press conference. (File Photo/ PTI)

Union Budget 2022-23: The pre-budget meeting with different stakeholders will continue on Thursday. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold her first meeting on Thursday with stakeholders from infrastructure and climate change.

The second meeting will be held in the afternoon with experts from financial sector and capital markets. The meeting will be held virtually through video conferencing. This information was tweeted by the official Twitter handle of the Finance Ministry. 

FM Smt. @nsitharaman will chair Pre-Budget consultations with different stakeholder Groups in 2 sessions tomorrow, 16th Dec. 2021, in New Delhi in connection with the forthcoming General Budget 2022-23. The meetings are being held virtually. (1/2)@nsitharamanoffc @PIB_India

— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) December 15, 2021

 

First Pre-Budget Meet With Experts From Agriculture Sector

On Wednesday, a joint meeting was held with experts from agriculture and Agro processing industries. The meeting was held by both Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary and Bhagwat Karad.  Finance Ministry officials along with experts from these sectors were also present at the meetings. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has not been able to attend the meeting as she was busy in Parliament. 

Union Ministers of State for Finance Shri @mppchaudhary & Shri @DrBhagwatKarad jointly hold 1st Pre-Budget consultations with representatives of Agriculture and Agro processing industry via virtual mode today in New Delhi in connection with forthcoming #UnionBudget 2022-23. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/tzYeG0ZoPR

— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) December 15, 2021

 

There are less than two months left for the budget for 2022-23 to be presented. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her fourth budget on February 1, 2022. The Finance Minister is expected to hold pre-budget meetings with industry representatives, health, education experts as well as economists, trade union leaders, MSMEs as well as startups besides the agriculture sector, agro-processing industry.

Budget To Be Presented Under Shadow Of Omicron Variant

It is expected that Finance Minister will have to prepare the Budget keeping in view the new variant of corona during the presentation of the Budget for 2022-23. However, it is a matter of satisfaction for the government that GST collection is increasing.

According to the latest GDP data, the economy is showing growth at 8.4 percent rate. It is believed that the finance minister's entire focus in the budget to be on strengthening infrastructure in the country. But rising inflation has become the biggest challenge for the Finance Minister.