The budget and what it may bring may still not be in the mind space of most, economists included, but perhaps they should. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is not waiting for the new year or a new day, having decided to kickstart her pre-budget consultations from tomorrow.
The Union Budget 2022-23 is expected to be presented in the parliament by Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1st. This will be the fourth budget to be presented by her under the Modi 2 regime.
The finance ministry on Wednesday afternoon announced that pre-budget consultations with "different stakeholder groups" will start from tomorrow, 15th Dec. Like last year, they will be held virtually this time around as well.
The first meeting is with experts from the agriculture and agro-processing industry on Thursday afternoon. The high-level meetings tend to go on till almost the last minute, with some having been chaired by PM Modi in the past.
Technically, this is the second round of pre-budget meetings, as the finance minister had already kickstarted the basic process back in October by meeting with various departments and ministries on their revised expenditure statements, budget estimates and demand for grants.
