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The Finance Ministry concluded the Pre-Budget consultations for the Union Budget 2024-25, which began on June 19, 2024.
These meetings were chaired by Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman. A press release by the Ministry of Finance on Sunday stated that over 120 invitees from 10 stakeholder groups participated in the in-person consultations. Among these stakeholders, the experts and representatives from farmer associations and agriculture economists, trade unions, the education and health sectors, employment and skilling, MSMEs, trade and services, industry, economists, the financial sector and capital markets, as well as the infrastructure, energy, and urban sectors participated.As part of budget deliberations, the Finance Minister also convened a meeting with the Finance Ministers of the states in the national capital. During the first meeting with the Union Finance Minister, the economists discussed several critical issues among them boosting capital expenditure and reducing the fiscal deficit were highlighted. The group of economists suggested to the ministry that the focus should be on reducing the fiscal deficit in the upcoming budget, adding the issue of the need to generate employment growth. The industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) suggested the government increase capital expenditure in the upcoming budget. The economists also emphasised on the need to enhance the capital expenditure. In another meeting, the farmer associations suggested the government enhance the budgetary allocation for the agriculture sector. The agriculture economists and farmers association also demanded to review the current budgetary allocations. The trade and services industry representatives demanded the policies for the exports and trade meanwhile they suggested the government review the Interest Equalisation Scheme, ease of doing business, and enhance R&D initiatives. The issue of employment was also raised during the meeting. the representatives of the skilling and employment sectors suggested ways to skill the youth for the better utilisation of the workforce. Union Ministers of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, Finance Secretary and Secretary Expenditure Dr. T.V. Somanathan, Secretary of Economic Affairs Ajay Seth, Secretary of DIPAM Tuhin K. Pandey, Secretary of Financial Services Vivek Joshi, Secretary of Revenue Sanjay Malhotra, Secretary of Corporate Affairs Manoj Govil, Chief Economic Adviser Dr. V. Anantha Nageswaran, and senior officers from the Ministry of Finance and relevant ministries were also present during the meetings. Union Minister, Sitharaman expressed gratitude to the participants for their valuable suggestions, as per the release. The Minister assured all the stakeholders that the suggestions will be examined and considered in the preparation of the Union Budget 2024-25.(ANI)
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