Budget 2024: PM Modi, FM Sitharaman hold talks with Niti Aayog, economists

NEW DELHI : Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday held talks with the members of Niti Aayog and top economists here, ahead of the Union Budget 2024-25 on July 23.

Niti Aayog Vice-Chairperson Suman Bery and other members of the think tank attended the talks on economic issues. Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh, Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran, economists Surjit Bhalla and Ashok Gulati, and veteran banker K V Kamath attended the meeting too.

The meeting followed days after Sitharaman concluded the pre-budget discussions with various stakeholders on July 7. The talks spanned over several days with 120 invitees, 10 stakeholder groups presenting their recommendations and views regarding their expectation from the Budget.

The telecom sector has sought a special regime for operators and farm groups have demanded more funds for research and development and an increase in the value of the PM-KISAN support scheme among other things.

Similarly, experts have also suggested the Centre to ease the tax burden on the taxpayers in a bid to boost consumption. There are speculations that major tax reforms may be introduced, including increased threshold for standard deduction, possible restructure of capital gains taxes among other things.

Insurance companies have pushed for tax relief in order to make their products more affordable and consequently boost penetration.

The MSME sector has put forth suggestions such as relaxing the 45-day payment rule, which requires making payments to MSMEs within 45 days of buying goods and services to check large corporations from looking at other sourcing avenues.

Meanwhile, the central government employees’ union wants the restoration of the old pension scheme, the immediate constitution of the 8th Pay Commission, removal of the 5 per cent cap on compassionate appointments among other demands.