Finance minister to begin pre-Budget consultation from Friday
Deccan ChronicleAfter reviewing all the concerned ministries, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will start pre-Budget consultations with various stakeholders beginning Friday as part of Budget making exercise. Sitharaman, who will chair these meetings, will seek their inputs regarding the upcoming Budget amid a seven-quarter low GDP print of 5.4 per cent in second quarter of the current financial year, followed by a meeting with farmer associations and agriculture economists and stakeholders in the MSME sector on December 7. This would be the eighth straight Budget of Sitharaman and second full budget of the Modi 3.0 government, which will give policy direction for achieving the goal of Viksit Bharat by 2047. The Budget for the current fiscal had projected a nominal GDP growth of 10.5 per cent, while fiscal deficit was pegged at 4.9 per cent of the gross domestic product.