Narendra Modi meets economists on Budget

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with eminent economists to elicit their views and suggestions for the upcoming Budget here on Thursday, according to a senior official. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to present the Budget for 2024-25 in the Lok Sabha on July 23.

This will be the first Budget of the Modi-led government in its third term at the Centre. PM Modi returned to the national capital on Thursday morning after concluding his two-nation visit to Russia and Austria.

Besides economists and sectoral experts, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Suman Bery and other members also attended the meeting. Finance Minister Sitharaman, Planning Minister Rao Inderjit Singh, Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran and economists Surjit Bhalla and Ashok Gulati and veteran banker K V Kamath among others were present in the meeting. The Budget for 2024-25 will be the first major economic document of the Modi 3.0 government, which, among other things, is expected to lay the road map for making India a developed nation by 2047.

President Droupadi Murmu, in her address to the joint sitting of Parliament last month, had indicated that the government would come out with historic steps to accelerate the pace of reforms. She also said the Budget will be an effective document of the government’s far-reaching policies and futuristic vision. Sitharaman has already held discussions with various stakeholders, including economists and captains of Indian industry, on the forthcoming Budget. Several experts have urged the government to provide tax relief to the common man to boost consumption and take steps to check inflation and accelerate economic growth.