Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. FIle
| Photo Credit: PTI
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to hold pre-budget consultations with industry chambers on June 20, sources said. The Union Budget for FY2024-25 is likely to be presented in Parliament in the second half of July.
Industry sources said the pre-budget consultation with Ms. Sitharaman would be preceded by a meeting with Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra on June 18.
NDA government’s economic agenda
The 2024-25 Budget is likely to lay out the NDA government’s economic agenda. The Finance Minister will have to look at measures to boost growth without hurting inflation and look for resources to meet the coalition government’s compulsion.
The economic agenda would include steps to fast-rack reforms to make India a $5 trillion economy and turn the country into a ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047.
The Indian economy is projected to grow 7.2% in the current fiscal due to improving rural demand and moderating inflation, as per RBI estimates.
The NDA government inherits a strong economy with fiscal prudence in place. The icing on the cake is a bonanza from RBI which has announced the highest-ever dividend of ₹2.11 lakh crore for FY24.
The key policy priorities for the third term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government would include dealing with stress in the agriculture sector, job creation, sustaining capex momentum and pushing revenue growth to stay on the fiscal consolidation path.
Rating agency S&P has already given a thumbs up to economic policies followed by the government in the past 10 years by upgrading the sovereign rating outlook to positive. It also hinted at a possible rating upgrade in the next 1-2 years provided the government sticks to its fiscal deficit roadmap.
While tax revenues seem to be buoyant, non-tax revenue remains a challenge as strategic disinvestment has almost been a non-starter with no big-ticket strategic sale, except Air India.
