In a first of its kind exercise, the BJP has been holding a series of meetings with 11 groups of stakeholders, on the expectations from, and the suggestions for, the Union budget.
Suggestions that have been conveyed to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will also be released as a background paper after the last of the meetings is wound up on January 14.
Gopal Krishna Agarwal, BJP spokesperson and head of the economic cell, started this exercise on December 19, with five sectoral meetings done and six to follow. “We have invited stakeholders from agriculture, trade, the automobile industry and pharmaceuticals, and economists who work with banks for separate meetings and discussed specific issues related to those sectors,” he said.
“For example, in agriculture, the meeting focussed on supply chain issues, input costs, and crop information, with traders and small manufacturers the issues related to the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the indirect taxes and implementation issues, with the automobile sector, the discussion hovered over industry cycle, electric vehicles and consumer demand,” he said.
Mr. Agarwal said the suggestions of these sectors had already been passed on to the Finance Minister, and a background paper is being prepared for an overview of the entire exercise. “Our last meeting will be with economists of banks on the larger picture of the economy,” he said.
While Ms. Sitharaman has been holding meetings with stakeholders as part of the budget exercise, Mr. Agarwal says this is a first such attempt by the BJP as far as the budget is concerned. “It is a targeted exercise, for specific issues related to various sectors,” he said. The budget will be presented on February 1 after the tabling of the economic survey for the year.
