TLI Staff
New Delhi: Weeks ahead of presenting her second Union Budget and perhaps in the light of the most challenging economic situation, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to kick off stakeholder consultation from Monday.
The Minister would meet the top captains of the “New Economy” comprising start-ups, fintech and digital sectors.
The Union Budget is likely to be presented on February 1, 2020, a day after tabling on Economic Survey in both the Houses of the Parliament. The last full Budget had been presented on July 5 after the Modi 2.0 government returned to power with massive seat tally in the General Elections.
Official sources said that Sitharaman would also do a pre-Budget consultation with the stakeholders of financial sector and capital market.
“Both the consultation meetings are scheduled on Monday. The first meeting is with the senior executives of start-ups, fintech firms and digital companies,” an official said.
In a major relief for start-ups, the government had in the last Budget provided that funds raised by them would not be scrutinised by the Income Tax department. The Finance Minister also relaxed norms for carrying forward and setting-off losses for start-ups.
With GDP growth on decline and almost all high-frequency economic indicators being worrying, the government may unveil new measures to boost the economy. It has announced a slew of measures to boost the economy in the last few months but no visible impact has been felt so far.
The Modi government faces major task of propping up investment and boosting consumption as the two are key to rev up the stuttering growth engine.
The government has repeatedly come under attack of the opposition parties for the declining GDP growth and its negative impact on employment.
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