Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday chaired her 7th pre-Budget 2023 consultation with the stakeholders of labour organisations virtually, in New Delhi.
The 7th Pre-Budget 2023 meeting was attended by Ministers of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary and Bhagwat Kisanrao Karad; Finance Secretary T V Somanathan; Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth; DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey; Department of Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra; Department of Financial Services Secretary Vivek Joshi; Ministry of Corporate Affairs Secretary Manoj Govil;
Chief Economic Advisor Anantha Nageswaran; and Ministry of Finance Senior Economic Advisor Rajiv Mishra.
Finance Minister Sitharaman has so far chaired several pre-Budget consultations with group of experts, and industry leaders, including the agricultural and food processing industry experts. She had met with representatives from the social sector.
She also held pre-budget consultations with the State and Union Territory Finance Ministers.
The first meeting was held last week on Monday. The formal exercise to prepare the annual Budget for the next financial year — 2023-24 — commenced on October 10.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) had opposed the Union Finance Ministry’s decision of limiting the pre-budget consultation meeting with the trade unions to 75 minutes.
In a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Leader of CPI Parliamentary Party, Binoy Viswam, termed the ministry’s decision as “absurd” and “arbitrary” on Sunday. (ANI)
