Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the pre-budget consultation meetings for Budget 2022-23 held in virtual mode from 15th to 22nd December, 2021.

More than 120 invitees representing 7 stakeholder groups participated in 8 meetings scheduled during this period. The stakeholder groups include representatives and experts from Agriculture and Agro Processing Industry; Industry, Infrastructure and Climate Change; Financial Sector and Capital Markets; Services and Trade; Social Sector; Trade Union & Labour Organization and Economists.

Union Ministers of State for Finance Shri Pankaj Chaudhary and Dr. Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, Finance Secretary Shri T.V. Somanathan; Secretary, DEA, Shri Ajay Seth; Secretary, DIPAM, Shri Tuhin Kanta Pandey; Secretary, Financial Services, Shri Debashish Panda; Secretary, Corporate Affairs, Shri Rajesh Verma; Secretary, Revenue Shri Tarun Bajaj and senior officers from Ministry of Finance were also present during the meetings. Secretaries of other Ministries/Departments concerned participated through online mode.

The stakeholder groups made several suggestions on various issues that included increased R&D spending, infrastructure status for digital services, incentives to hydrogen storage and fuel cell development, rationalisation of income tax slabs, investments in online safety measures etc., among others.

The participants lauded government’s efforts in efficient handling of the economy during the pandemic and retaining India’s status as the fastest growing major economy.

Finance Minister Smt. Sitharaman thanked the participants for sharing their valuable suggestions and assured that suggestions will be carefully considered while preparing the Budget 2022-23.

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RM/KMN