Ahead of her second budget for this government which will be presented on February 1 next year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has started meeting with stakeholders of the economy like industry veterans, farmers’ association, chamber of commerce leaders, economists, market participants and others.
The pre-Budget consultations drive began today. Finance Minister held meeting with stakeholder groups of ‘New Economy: Start-ups, Fintech and Digital Sector’ and will meet with the financial sector and capital market representatives later in the day. The minister is expected to meet the representatives of industry chambers on December 19.
The source in ministry has confirmed this pre-Budget consultation starting today will last on December 23. The budget this year will focus on boosting economic growth which touched the six-year low of 4.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2019-20.
The source said that the finance ministry has already started the Budget preparation exercise in consultation with different ministries and departments.
The industry has made the demands of exempting the income tax of Rs. 5 lakhs for individual taxpayers to boost the demand in the market. Presently, the exemption limit is Rs. 2.5 lakhs. On investment fronts, the industry has asked FM to hike the overall deduction limit to at least Rs 3 lakh from current Rs 1.5 lakh under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act to boost investments and increase tax savings.
The FM has asked the industries to present their views on the issues like ease of doing business, regulatory environment impacting private investment, export competitiveness, the role of the state, and revival of private investment.
The industry expects that the coming budget would announce some reliefs for the salaried class with most-sought demand of changing the personal income tax slab.