Finance Ministry receives suggestions on fiscal policy, green growth during pre-Budget consultations

The government received a host of suggestions concerning fiscal policy, taxation and green growth, among others, from various stakeholders during the customary pre-Budget meetings convened by the Finance Ministry through video conferencing.

More than 170 invitees representing 9 stakeholder groups participated in 15 virtual meetings chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Finance Ministry said in a release.

The series of pre-Budget consultation meetings for Budget 2021-22 were held from December 14 to December 23, 2020, it said.

This is the first time in the history of Budget making exercise that such consultations meetings were held in virtual mode due to the COVID-19 crisis.

The stakeholder groups were from different sectors including financial and capital markets, health, education and rural development, water and sanitation, trade union and labour organization, services and trade, infrastructure, energy and climate change, agriculture and agro processing, industrialists and economists, among others, the statement said.

Besides the Finance Minister, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur, Finance Secretary A B Pandey, Financial Services Secretary Debasish Panda, DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Expenditure Secretary T V Somanathan, Economic Affairs Secretary Tarun Bajaj, Chief Economic Advisor K V Subramanian and senior officers also participated in the meeting.

The stakeholder groups gave suggestions on various subjects including health and education, water harvesting and conservation, ease of doing business, production linked investment scheme, exports, branding of 'Made in India' products, public sector delivery mechanisms, among others.

The participants lauded the government's efforts to flatten the Covid-19 curve and for the strong recovery in economic growth in the second quarter of 2020-21, it said.

They further stated that India is among very few countries whose economic activity has risen with declining pandemic induced fatalities, it added.