The Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman held here today her 6th Pre-Budget Consultation Meeting with the leading Economists in connection with the forthcoming General Budget 2019-20.

The main areas of discussion during the aforesaid Meeting included boosting Economic Growth, Job Oriented Growth, increased Macro-economic Stability, Fiscal Management including ideal size of Public Sector Borrowing requirements and increase in investments among others.

Along with the Finance Minister, the said Meeting was attended by Shri Rajiv Kumar, Vice-chairman, NITI Aayog, Shri Subhash C. Garg, Finance Secretary, Shri Ajay Bhushan Pandey, Revenue Secretary, Shri Rajiv Kumar, Secretary, DFS Shri Girish Chandra Murmu, Expenditure Secretary, , Shri Atanu Chakraborty, Secretary, DIPAM, Shri Pramod Chandra Mody, Chairman, CBDT, Shri P.K Das, Chairman, CBIC, Dr K.V. Subramanian, CEA and other senior officials of the Ministry of Finance.

The Economists put forward their view that this Budget should set the tone for the next five years and is a unique opportunity to promote manufacturing through Make in India. Various other suggestions received from Economists related to tariff reforms, removing bottlenecks in supply-chain, EXIM policy for agriculture, removal of specific duties on textiles, maintaining fiscal consolidation, revival of Inter-State Councils for holistic domestic growth, boosting employment by focusing on skilling and giving fillip to services and manufacturing sector, macroeconomic stabilisation and structural reforms for long-term growth, stability of tax rates, reduction of tariffs, further simplification of GST, implementation of Direct Tax Code,  promoting labour intensive sectors, constitution of independent fiscal policy committee, incentivising digital transactions, focusing on job-oriented growth, Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC) type framework for NBFCs sector, infusing capital in banks and tapping into e-commerce’s potential for job growth among others.

The major participants in the aforesaid Meeting included Shri Rathin Roy, CEO & Director, NIPFP; Shri Arvind Virmani, Economist; Shri S. Mahendra Dev, Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research; Shri Shekhar Shah, DG, National Council of Applied Economic Research; Shri Rakesh Mohan, Economist; Shri T.N. Ninan, Chairman, Business Standard Pvt. Ltd.; Shri Nitin Desai, Economist; Shri Surjit S. Bhalla, MD, O(X) US Investment; Shri Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Chief Economist, SBI; Shri Errol D’ Souza, Professor, Indian Institute of Management; Shri Ajit Ranade, Chief Economist, Aditya Birla Group; Shri E. Somanathan, Professor, Economics and Planning Unit; Shri Niranjan Rajadhyaksha, Director, IDFC Institute; Ms Pranjul Bhandari, Chief India Economist, HSBC; Shri Manoj Panda, Director, Institute of Economic Growth; Shri Balram Nandwani, Chairman, Global Village Foundation; Shri Atul Gupta, Vice Chairman, Indian Chartered Accountant Association; Shri Partham Mukhopadhyay, Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research; Shri Sunil Jain, Managing Editor, Financial Express among others.

Fiscal management priorities: borrowings, consolidation and financial stability to underpin job oriented growth and structural reforms. Pre-budget consultations prioritized fiscal management and macroeconomic stability, recommending appropriate public sector borrowing, fiscal consolidation, and an independent fiscal policy committee. Measures to support financial stability included bank capital infusion and an IBC-style framework for NBFCs. Growth-oriented proposals focused on promoting manufacturing and labour-intensive sectors, tariff and EXIM reforms, removal of specific duties on textiles, GST simplification, implementation of a Direct Tax Code, incentives for digital transactions, and skilling to boost employment.