Budget should focus on jobs, says India Inc

New Delhi, November 21

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday kicked off pre-Budget consultations with two rounds of meeting with industry chamber heads, and climate change and infrastructure experts about their expectations from the upcoming Budget.

The meetings were held virtually and Union Ministers of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary and Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, and other senior officials attended these.

This will be Sitharaman’s fifth successive Budget and the last full Budget of the Modi government before the General Election in April-May 2024. “The external scenario is likely to continue to be unfavourable for some time. Hence, we must broad-base our domestic economy by creating new sectors of growth and driving employment generation to boost domestic demand, inclusion and growth,” said CII president Sanjiv Bajaj.

The industry chamber also called for an “aggressive focus” on privatisation of PSUs and increasing allocation to capital expenditure.

It also wanted the government to consider an urban employment guarantee scheme and initiate a pilot in metro cities first in this Budget. The PHDCCI suggested calibrated steps to enhance domestic sources. Meanwhile, Sitharaman will hold pre-Budget consultations with state Finance Ministers on Friday.

On Tuesday, she will meet representatives from the agriculture and agro-processing industry, and the financial sector and capital market.

India Inc has also asked the government to rationalise personal income tax and GST slabs to boost consumption.

Last full Budget of Modi govt

• This will be Sitharaman’s fifth successive Budget and the last full Budget of the Modi govt before the General Election in 2024
• The industry called for an “aggressive focus” on privatisation of PSUs and increasing allocation to capital expenditure