Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman held the Pre-Budget consultations with Finance Ministers of States and UTs (with legislature) here today.

The meeting was attended by Chief Ministers of Goa, Haryana and Puducherry, Deputy Chief Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Tripura as well as 17 Finance Ministers/Ministers representing their states and senior Officers from Union Government and States. Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs Shri Anurag Singh Thakur also attended the meeting.

Smt. Sitharaman elucidated Union Government's philosophy of "Cooperative Federalism" and steps taken by the Union Government to bolster growth of the economy. State Governments welcomed the opportunity to present their views and expressed their suggestions on growth, investment, resource requirement and Fiscal Policy. They also suggested measures to strengthen cooperation between States and Centre to attain $5 trillion economy.

The Finance Minister welcomed the suggestions made by the State/UTs in the meeting. She assured that the memorandums submitted by State/UTs will be examined and suitably considered.

Cooperative federalism: states submitted fiscal and investment recommendations; Union will examine and consider memorandums. Cooperative Federalism served as the framework for pre budget consultations in which State and UT representatives presented recommendations on growth, investment, resource needs and fiscal policy, urging strengthened State Centre cooperation; the Union Finance Minister welcomed the submissions and committed that memorandums will be examined and suitably considered in the budgetary process, reflecting the consultative mechanism for integrating subnational fiscal concerns into central budget deliberations.