Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday concluded pre-budget meetings for the forthcoming union budget 2023-24.
She chaired the pre-budget consultation meetings for budget 2023-24 held in virtual mode from 21st to 28th November, 2022, an official statement said.
More than 110 invitees representing 7 stakeholder groups participated in 8 meetings scheduled during this period.
The stakeholder groups include representatives and experts from Agriculture and Agro Processing Industry; Industry, Infrastructure and Climate Change; Financial Sector and Capital Markets; Services and Trade; Social Sector; Trade Unions and Labour Organisations and Economists.
The representatives of the stakeholder groups made a number of suggestions for the forthcoming budget that included mechanism for green certification to help MSMEs, urban employment guarantee programme to boost employment generation in urban areas, rationalisation of income tax, creation of innovation clusters, schemes for improving domestic supply chains, reduction of taxes on electric vehicle and introduction of EV policy.
The suggestions also included measures to promote India as a hub for green hydrogen, social sector entrepreneurship fund for social impact companies, training and accreditation of care economy workers, portable social benefit for children, National Regulatory Authority for Water and Sanitation, coverage of unorganised workers under ESIC, continuation of public capex, fiscal consolidation and lower customs duties, among others, the statement said.
