The Finance Minister assured stakeholders that their suggestions would be considered

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has wrapped up pre-budget consultations for Union Budget 2023–24, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday.

During these meetings, representatives of the stakeholder groups made a number of suggestions for the forthcoming budget.

These 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, introduction of EV policy, and 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 and 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

Finance Minister Sitharaman assured the participants that their suggestions would be taken into account.

The pre-budget consultation sessions for Budget 2023–24 chaired by Sitharaman were held virtually from November 21–28.

During this period, a total of eight meetings were scheduled, in which more than 110 invitees from 7 stakeholder groups took part. The stakeholder groups comprised specialists and representatives from the following sectors: the financial sector and capital markets; services and trade; the social sector; trade unions and labor organizations; and economists, the Ministry of Finance said.

Additionally, senior officers from the Ministry of Finance as well as Union Ministers of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary and Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, Finance Secretary TV Somanathan, Secretary, DEA, Ajay Seth, Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran, Secretary, DIPAM, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Secretary, Financial Services, Vivek Joshi, Secretary, Corporate Affairs, and Secretaries from related ministries and departments participated online.