With agriculturists meet, FinMin to kick off budget season

With two months left before the Union Budget 2013-14, the finance ministry is swinging into full scale preparations.

From Wednesday, finance minister P Chidambaram is set to hold pre-Budget meetings with sectoral groups, starting with agriculturists.

"The finance minister will be meeting agriculturists on Wednesday to discuss issues in the farm sector that can be looked into in the Budget," a senior official said, adding that similar meetings will be held over the next two weeks with representatives from other sectors.

Trade union leaders will present their pre-Budget memorandum to Chidambaram on January 3, which will be followed by a meeting with social sector groups agencies such as NGOs on January 4.

But the more heavy duty pre-Budget meetings will take place starting next week. The finance minister is scheduled to hold two rounds of meetings on January 7 — one with bankers and financial institutions, and the second with economists — to evince their views on the financial sector as well as the macro economy.

The finance minister will also hold pre Budget discussions with industry chambers around January 15, a senior official said, though a final date is yet to be decided.

The feedback is expected to be crucial as Chidambaram gears up to present a Budget that is widely expected to help revive growth and control the fiscal as well as current account deficit.

Earlier, revenue secretary Sumit Bose had held discussions with industry chambers to get their views and recommendations on board for taxation proposals for Budget.

The finance ministry has also begun inter ministerial consultations and is finalising Budget allocations for government departments for the next fiscal.

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