Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired a pre-Budget meeting with representatives from States and Union Territories in Jaisalmer on Friday. The meeting is part of the ongoing consultations ahead of the Union Budget for the financial year 2025-26.
Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, along with Chief Ministers from Goa, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya, and Odisha, attended the meeting. Deputy Chief Ministers from Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Telangana, as well as Finance Ministers of other States and Union Territories, were also present.
Senior officials, including Secretaries from the Departments of Economic Affairs and Expenditure, participated in the discussions alongside other Ministry of Finance representatives.
The meeting coincided with preparations for the GST Council meeting, which is scheduled to take place on Saturday in Jaisalmer.
The Ministry of Finance has been conducting consultations with various stakeholders, including representatives from MSMEs, farmers’ associations, and economists, as part of its pre-Budget exercise. These meetings are a routine part of the process to finalize the annual Budget.
The formal exercise for preparing the Budget for the next financial year has already begun. As per tradition, the Union Budget for 2025-26 will be presented in Parliament on February 1, 2025.
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