The Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman held the pre-budget consultations with the Finance Ministers of States and Union Territories (with Legislature) here yesterday. The meeting was held through Video Conference and was attended by Chief Ministers, the Deputy Chief Ministers, Finance Ministers, Ministers and Senior Officers from the States/Union Territories and the Union Government.

The Union Finance Secretary Dr A.B. Pandey welcomed all the participants to the deliberation and informed the importance of this particular consultation meeting. The Union Finance Minister highlighted the importance of this meeting as a sign of co-operative federalism and indicated the manner in which the Union Government was strongly supportive of States/Union Territories (with Legislature) fight against the pandemic. Most participants thanked the Union Finance Minister for financially supporting their States/Union Territories during the worst months of pandemic, by enhancing borrowing limits and providing back to back loans to States. The participants also gave numerous suggestions to the Union Finance Minister for inclusion in the Budget Speech.

Cooperative federalism: Union support for States continues via expanded borrowing capacity and back-to-back loans for pandemic response. Pre-budget consultations affirmed cooperative federalism and the Union Government's provision of temporary financing accommodations to States for pandemic response, including expanded borrowing capacity and back-to-back loans, while soliciting State inputs for Budget 2021-22 priorities.