Sitharaman wraps up consultations, FY25 budget to be presented on 23 July

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has concluded consultations with various stakeholders, including representatives of industry and social sectors, as part of the budget preparation exercise.

Sitharaman will present her seventh Budget on 23 July. This would be the first full budget of Modi 3.0 which is going to set the path for Vikshit Bharat (developed India) by 2047.

Last month, president Droupadi Murmu, while delivering her address to the joint sitting of Parliament, had said that many historic steps and major economic decisions will be taken in the upcoming budget session.

In her first address to the joint sitting of Parliament since the constitution of the 18th Lok Sabha, the president said, "This budget will be an effective document of the government's far-reaching policies and futuristic vision".

"Along with major economic and social decisions, many historic steps will also be seen in this budget," she said.

The Finance Ministry in a statement said the pre-budget consultations for Union Budget 2024-25 that started from 19 June onward concluded on 5 July 2024.

In the course of in-person consultations, more than 120 invitees across 10 stakeholder groups, including experts and representatives from farmer associations and agriculture economists; trade unions; education & health sector; employment & skilling; MSME; trade & services; industry; economists; financial sector & capital markets; as well as, infrastructure, energy and urban sector, participated in the meetings, it said.

These meetings chaired by the finance minister witnessed the participation of minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary; finance secretary and secretary expenditure, T V Somanathan; economic affairs secretary, Ajay Seth, DIPAM secretary, Tuhin K Pandey, financial services secretary Vivek Joshi and revenue secretary, Sanjay Malhotra among others.

In the course of the consultations, Sitharaman expressed gratitude to the participants for sharing valuable suggestions and assured experts and representatives that their suggestions would be carefully examined and considered while preparing the Union Budget 2024-25.