Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the pre-budget consultations with the Finance Ministers of States and Union Territories (with Legislature) for Union Budget 2022-23 here today. The meeting was attended by Union Minister of State for Finance, Chief Ministers, Deputy Chief Ministers, Finance Ministers, Ministers and Senior Officers from the States and Union Territories (with Legislature) and the Union Government.

The Union Finance Secretary welcomed all the participants to the deliberation and informed the importance of this particular consultation meeting. Most of the participants thanked the Union Finance Minister for financially supporting their States/Union Territories during the worst months of pandemic, by enhancing borrowing limits, providing back to back loans to States, and  through Special assistance for capital expenditure. The participants also gave numerous suggestions to the Union Finance Minister for inclusion in the Budget Speech. The Finance Minister thanked the participants for their inputs and suggestions towards Union Budget 2022-23 and assured to examine each of the proposals.

Pre-budget consultation gathers state fiscal inputs and reviews central pandemic support measures for consideration in the Union Budget. Pre-budget consultation chaired by the Union Finance Minister convened state and union finance officials to solicit inputs for the Union Budget, reviewing central fiscal support measures such as enhanced borrowing limits, back-to-back loans, and capital expenditure assistance. Participants submitted suggestions for the Budget Speech, which the Finance Minister received and committed to examine for possible inclusion.