Ahead of the Union Budget, Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with economists to discuss the state of the economy and ideas to push growth.
The Budget will be unveiled by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 23 and it will be her seventh consecutive Budget, a record eclipsing Morarji Desai’s six in a row. This will be the first Budget of the new coalition govt, which assumed office in June.
The Budget is being presented against the backdrop of global challenges and geopolitical tensions. It is expected to spell out the steps for govt’s Viksit Bharat strategy and ensure that India emerges as a developed country by 2047.
The economy is in a sweet spot and is expected to continue to grow around the 7% range for the next few years, led by robust domestic demand.
Sitharaman, Niti Aayog vice chairman Suman Bery and his team of advisors and B V R Subrahmanyam attended the meeting. Noted economists such as Ashok Gulati, Surjit Bhalla also expressed their views. Eminent banker and financial market expert K V Kamath and chief economic advisor V Anantha Nageswaran also participated in the meeting. FM has held several rounds of discussions with various stakeholders in the lead up to the Budget and the views will serve as crucial inputs.
