The Finance Minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee will begin his customary pre-budget consultations with various stakeholders of the economy from January 11.
The first meeting on January 11 would be with agriculturists. This would be followed by an interaction with captains of Indian industry on January 13 and Trade union leaders on January 16. He is also slated to meet economists as part of his pre-budget interactions to get their inputs on tricky issues like fiscal deficit and tax policies.
The pre-budget consultation this year will take place in the backdrop of some slowdown in the Indian economy, mainly due to lower industrial output growth and the worsening eurozone situation. The less than expected economic growth in the U.S has also not helped the Indian economy.
India's GDP grew 6.9 percent in second quarter, the slowest quarterly growth in last two years. The Finance Ministry had in the recent mid-year economic analysis pegged the growth estimate for current fiscal at 7.25 - 7.75 percent, lower than the 9 percent estimate made in February this year.