Budget 2024: Government To Convene An All-Party Meeting Tomorrow (Photo on Nirmala Sitharaman Office @nsitharamanoffc)

The central government is set to convene an all-party meeting on Tuesday, January 30, ahead of the budget session. As a customary practice before every parliamentary session, it will give opportunity for the opposition leaders to outline and raise issues that they want to highlight. During the session, the government will also outline its agenda and seek the opposition parties” cooperation.

The all-party meetings will be held in both Houses of Parliament ahead of the budget session. The parliamentary budget session will be held from January 31 to February 9, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabling the interim Budget. Notably, this comes ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. This will mark the annual financial statement of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government’s second term.

However, after the poll, the new government will present the full budget in May. The interim Budget will deal with the fiscal requirements of the intervening period, which will be applicable until the new government is formed after the general election.

The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), a non-governmental trade association and advocacy group based out of Delhi, which works to create a conducive environment for business in India, has issued several recommendations for the Budget presentation session.

Among others, one of the recommendations is the disinvestment targets and setting out a 3-year schedule for disinvestment. Besides, subsuming petroleum, electricity & real estate in GST and aiming at a 3-rate structure and raising cape by 20 % to Rs 12 lakh crores and setting up a full-fledged Ministry of Investment are two other recommendations.