BackUnion budget likely in first week of July
Govt announces that the 16th Lok Sabha will convene on 4 June and that the first session will end on 11 June
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New Delhi: The Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government will likely present its first budget in the first week of July so that the finance Bill can be passed before 31 July after discussion.
“The Budget session is likely to begin by first week of July. The parliamentary affairs ministry has suggested to the cabinet today (on Thursday) that the new ministers should be given some time to go through the budgetary proposals. That’s the reason they decided to have budget session later," said a government official who is familiar with the development and asked not to be identified.
Foreign as well domestic investors, analysts, economists and businessmen will be keenly watching the first budget of the Modi government that will shed some light on the NDA’s plans for the economy.
Analysts say the government will have to revive growth, curb inflation and focus on fiscal consolidation—none of which is an easy task.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley has already underlined these issues as his primary focus.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the dominant constituent of the alliance (with 282 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha) and the NDA (with 336) are seen as business-friendly. The stock markets ran up ahead of 16 May, counting day, in anticipation of a BJP win and have gained further since.
The Modi government has taken charge at a time when growth has slowed to a decade’s low and high retail inflation has forced the Reserve Bank of India to tighten monetary policy, causing a fall in consumer and investment demand.
The new government has been trying to signal that it means business from day one. Modi, who chaired a cabinet meeting on Thursday, told his ministers that all of them should focus on governance, delivery and efficient implementation of programmes. He also asked his cabinet colleagues to give priority to the letters and demands raised by the states.
The ministers have also been asked to prepare a time table for a 100-day action plan for their respective ministries and to clear all issues pending in their ministries.
The government announced on Thursday that the 16th Lok Sabha will convene on 4 June and that the first session will end on 11 June. Members of the new Lok Sabha will take oath on the first two days. The house will elect a new speaker on 6 June.
On 9 June, President Pranab Mukherjee will address a joint session of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Parliament will debate and pass a motion of thanks to the presidential address before the session ends on 11 June.
With no party having the required number of MPs—10% of the house—to be the principal opposition party with a leader of opposition, the government is looking into “precedence and various options" over the matter. The Congress, which led the ruling coalition for 10 years since 2004, has been reduced to 44 members in the Lok Sabha.
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