Pre budget consultation with stakeholders completed | Pre budget consultation with stakeholders completed: More than 120 people were called in 10 stakeholder groups, budget will be presented on July 23

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has completed consultations with various stakeholders, including representatives of industry and social sectors, before presenting the budget. This time the budget will be presented on July 23 after the formation of the new government. The interim budget was presented in February 2024.

For the past few days, Sitharaman has been interacting with stakeholders to prepare a roadmap. Several media reports have said that the finance minister has also received a wish list from BJP allies, the Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP and the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U).

The Finance Ministry said that the pre-budget consultation for the Union Budget 2024-25 began on June 19 and continued till July 5. During the consultation, Sitharaman assured those who shared suggestions that their suggestions would be considered while preparing the budget.

More than 120 people were called in 10 stakeholder groups
More than 120 people were invited for the consultation across 10 stakeholder groups. These included experts and representatives from farmer associations and agricultural economists, trade unions, education and health sectors, employment and skilling, MSME, trade and services, industry, economists, financial sector and capital markets, infrastructure, energy and urban sectors.

The President had said that many major economic decisions will be taken in the budget session
Last month, President Draupadi Murmu had said in Parliament that many historic steps and major economic decisions will be taken in the upcoming budget session. She had said that this budget will be an effective document of the government’s far-reaching policies and futuristic vision.

Nirmala Sitharaman will present the budget for the seventh consecutive time
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju had announced on Saturday that the budget session will be held from July 22 to August 12 and Sitharaman will present the budget on July 23. He said that President Draupadi Murmu has approved it on the recommendation of the central government. This budget will be the first full budget of the new government.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju gave information about the budget session on X.

This budget may focus on tax relief and farmers

The interim budget was presented on 1 February 2024
Lok Sabha elections were to be held in April-May this year, so the government presented the interim budget on February 1. Nirmala Sitharaman had focused her budget on the poor, women, youth and the farmers.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman gave a 58-minute budget speech on February 1, 2024.

Nirmala Sitharaman will set a new record, Morarji Desai had presented the post six times in a row
Nirmala Sitharaman will become the first Finance Minister of the country to present the budget for the seventh time in a row on July 23. Earlier, Morarji Desai had presented six consecutive budgets. However, Morarji presented the budget the most, i.e. 10 times.

After him, P. Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee presented the budget 9 times, Yashwant Rao Chavan, CD Deshmukh and Yashwant Sinha presented the budget 7 times. Manmohan Singh and T. Krishnamachari have presented the budget 6 times.

Now understand the complete process of budget

1. First of all, the Finance Ministry issues a circular asking all ministries, states, union territories, autonomous bodies to prepare estimates for the new year. Apart from giving estimates for the new year, they also have to give details of the expenditure and income of the previous year.

2. After receiving the estimate, top officials of the Central Government examine it. There is an in-depth discussion on it between the officials of the concerned ministries and the expenditure department. After this, the data is sent to the Finance Ministry with recommendations.

3. The Finance Ministry, after considering all the recommendations, allocates revenue to the departments for their expenditure. The Department of Revenue and Economic Affairs contacts representatives of farmers and small businessmen and foreign institutional investors to understand the situation in depth.

4. In the pre-budget meeting, the Finance Minister meets the concerned parties to know their proposals and demands. These include representatives of the states, bankers, agricultural scientists, economists and representatives of the employee organization. After the pre-budget meeting is over, the Finance Minister takes a final decision on all the demands. The Finance Minister also talks to the Prime Minister before finalizing the budget.

5.A few days before the presentation of the budget, the Halwa Ceremony takes place. Halwa prepared in a large pan is distributed among the staff of the Finance Ministry. With this, the printing process of the budget begins. The officers and support staff involved in the process remain in the ministry till the budget is presented. This financial year’s budget was not printed and its soft copy was given to the members of Parliament.

6.The Finance Minister presents the general budget in the Lok Sabha. Until 2016, it was presented on the last day of February. From 2017, it started being presented on 1 February every year. This year, for the first time, all the budget documents were made available on Union Budget mobile.

What is a full and interim budget? What is the difference between them?
The Union Budget is the annual financial statement of the country. In other words, the budget is an estimated statement of the government’s earnings and expenditure for a particular year.

Through the budget, the government tries to decide to what extent it can spend in comparison to its earnings in the coming financial year. The government has to present the budget at the beginning of every financial year. In India, the period of the financial year is from 1 April to 31 March.

The interim budget provides the government with funds to run the country until the general elections are decided and the full budget is announced after the formation of a new government. The term interim budget is not official. Officially it is called Vote on Account.