With less than 10 days until the first full Budget of the Modi 3.0 Government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday brainstormed with leading economists, sectoral experts, and NITI Aayog officials on key focus areas and strategies for the crucial policy document. 

The discussions aimed to accelerate India’s transformation into a $5-trillion economy and position it as the world’s third largest in the coming years.

“Earlier today, interacted with eminent economists and heard their insightful views on issues pertaining to furthering growth”, Modi said in a post in platform ‘X’, formerly Twitter. 

The meeting held under the aegis of NITI Aayog was also attended by Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Planning Minister Rao Inderjit Singh besides NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Suman Bery and other members of the policy think tank.

The Prime Minister is understood to have sought inputs from economists Surjit Bhalla and Ashok Gulati and veteran banker K V Kamath among others who were present in the meeting. These inputs could form the basis for some last-minute changes to the policy document, which is in the last lap of preparation. Sitharaman will present her seventh consecutive union budget on July 23. 

Vision document

Already the NITI Aayog has been tasked to prepare a vision document for India to become a $30-trillion economy by 2047. 

At today’s meeting, economists are understood to have suggested the need for careful balance between furthering fiscal consolidation and promoting economic growth. 

With the economy poised to see a robust growth of 7.2 per cent this fiscal (as per RBI estimates) and tax collections remaining robust, there is wide expectation that Budget would look to ramp up welfare spending without unduly disturbing the fiscal math. The Reserve Bank of India’s dividend bounty of ₹2.1-lakh crore has also bolstered the government’s finances and created the platform for boosting growth in coming years.

While the middle class expects the government to give them relief on income tax front with a rejig of tax slabs, there is also keen anticipation on what government intends to do to further boost employment creation in the country and drive investments into the economy. There has been some good news on the job creation front with RBI and SBI Research reports showing that the country has in the last 10 years added a sizeable number of jobs to the economy. 

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