Nirmala Sitharaman holds pre-budget meeting with trade experts, stakeholders

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday chaired the fourth pre-Budget consultation meeting with stakeholders and experts from export, trade and industry sectors to prepare for the Union Budget 2025-26.

The Finance Ministry said in a social media post, “Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. @nsitharaman chairing the 4th Pre-Budget Consultation with stakeholders and experts from export, trade and industry sectors regarding the upcoming Union Budget 2025-26 in New Delhi today.

The meeting was attended by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Choudhary, Finance Secretary, Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs, Secretary of DIPAM (Department of Investment and Public Asset Management) and Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India.

Earlier this week on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with a group of eminent economists and thinkers in preparation for the Union Budget 2025-26 at the NITI Aayog complex.

Earlier on December 20, Sitharaman had also chaired a pre-budget meeting with the finance ministers of states and union territories in Jaisalmer.

The meeting was also attended by the Chief Ministers of Goa, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya and Odisha along with Minister of State Pankaj Chaudhary; Deputy Chief Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana. Finance Ministers of States/Union Territories. Secretaries of the Departments of Economic Affairs and Expenditure and senior officials of the Finance Ministry were also present during the meeting.

Sitharaman has so far held several meetings with various stakeholders including MSMEs, farmer unions and economists.

The Finance Ministry holds several pre-Budget consultation meetings annually with experts, industry leaders, economists and state officials. The formal exercise of preparing the annual budget for the next financial year has begun.

As is tradition, the Budget for 2025-26 will be presented on February 1, 2025. Budget 2025-26 will be Nirmala Sitharaman’s eighth budget.

All eyes will be on key announcements and the government’s visionary economic guidance for the remaining tenure of Modi 3.0.