Nirmala Sitharaman to meet industry bodies on June 11 for pre-Budget consultation

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has called a meeting of leading industry chambers on June 11 to elicit their views on various issues, including steps to boost FDI inflows and industrial productivity, as part of the pre-Budget consultation exercise, sources said.

This would be the first joint interaction with Sitharaman, who took over as India’s first full-time woman finance minister last month, after the BJP-led NDA government won a second term.

Representatives of industry bodies like CII, Ficci and Assocham, among others, are expected to attend the meeting. Most of the industry bodies have already submitted their memoranda of demands to the finance ministry for consideration. The Budget will be presented by the minister in the Lok Sabha on July 5.

Sources said the topics likely to be taken up during the meeting on Tuesday include changes in the FDI guidelines to spur overseas investments in the country. The minister would also seek their views on the issue of mergers to enhance productivity, the categories of services needed to be expanded to meet domestic demand, and tariff structure to increase domestic output and exports. Special focus is likely to be on the tourism sector.

Sources said the minister is particulary interested to know views of the industry on development of tourist sites with a view to attract more domestic as well as foreign travellers. In line with the custom, the NDA government had presented an interim Budget for 2019-20 in February ahead of the general elections. Now, the government will be presenting a regular Budget for the fiscal.

The finance ministry has already indicated that it would not be making major changes in the allocations earmarked for different ministries and departments in the interim Budget.