Budget: Trade unions seek pay parity, higher pensions, social security
As the Union Budget 2025-26 approaches, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman holds critical consultations with trade union representatives to gather insights and address economic challenges.
New Delhi: Trade union leaders on Monday urged the government to take measures to boost employment and productivity, increase pensions for those covered by the Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS), the immediate constitution of the 8th Pay Commission in pre-budget consultations with the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The minister, who met with trade unionists following similar pre-budget roundtables with economists, farmers associations, representatives of health, education, manufacturing sectors, and MSMEs. On Monday she also met industry leaders from sectors like infrastructure, energy and urban development sectors.
The proposals made by the trade unions included suggestions to prioritize medium and small industries under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes, providing cheaper credit lines to such industries, formulating centrally sponsored schemes for rural industrial clusters, broadening the scope of MNREGA to 200 days of employment yearly.
"Government should immediately implement the Code on Wages and the Code on Social Securities without further delay. The pension for the seventy-eight lakh (7.8 million) EPS pensioners should be immediately hiked to Rs. 5,000 as minimum EPS pension and that should be connected with VDA so that it can increase from time to time and ease their life," the Trade Union Coordination Centre (TUCC) said in a statement after the consultation meeting.
For scheme workers
"Scheme workers, such as Asha, Anganwadi, and Mid-day meal workers are unfortunately not recognized as workers, and the majority of them are women they should be brought under the definition of workers and they should be given coverage with ESIC and EPFO wherein their contribution should be shared between Central and State governments just like their honorarium. They should be given wages/salary as per recent judgment of Hon'ble Gujarat High Court," it added.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), which attended the pre-budget consultation meeting said it has sought an immediate increase in the minimum pensions for EPF 95 pensioners from ₹1,000 to ₹5,000, apart from the extension of the Ayushman Bharat Scheme for such pensioners.
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"Constitute a high power committee comprising of members of BMS and other trade unions, along with management and government representatives to discuss and decide the revival plans for sick PSUs," it added in a statement.
Niranjan Hiranandani, managing director of Hiranandani Group, and Chairman of the National Real Estate Development Council, who attended the pre-budget consultation meeting on Monday said the finance minister's discussions with infrastructure leaders involved affordable housing, expanding rental housing given to industrial workers, giving housing, especially townships infrastructure status, increasing interest deduction for home loans from ₹2 lakh to ₹5 lakh.
"(there were talks on) investment into the infrastructure of the third city around Navi Mumbai airport," he added.
At a crucial time
The discussions, held ahead of the Union budget to be presented on 1 February, come at a crucial time for India’s economy, which is grappling with slowing growth and geopolitical challenges to trade.
The pre-budget consultation with the leaders of the capital market and the financial sector was chaired by Sitharaman and attended by finance secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey, secretaries of Department of Economic Affairs & Financial Services, Ajay Seth and M Nagaraju and Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran.
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The consultation with the industry leaders featured Niranjan Hiranandani, BVN Rao, GMR Group, S Paramasivan, MD of Afcons Infrastructure Ltd., Gurinder Pal Singh, Larsen and Turbo Limited, Vishwas Pathak, MSEDCL, Sudhir Mehta, chairman of Pinnacle Industries & EKA, Sumant Sinha, chairman of ReNew Group, Pawan Kumar Agarwal, CEO of Waaree Energy, Jagan Shah of the Infravision Foundation, Meera Mehta, professor emeritus at the CEPT University, Kalpana Vishwanath, CEO of SafetiPin, Rajeet Mathews of World Resource Institute, Nithya Ramesh of Jana Urban Space Foundation, among the others.
Slipping real GDP
Real GDP growth slipped to 5.4% in the September quarter, the lowest in nearly two years, dragged down by a slowdown in manufacturing, urban consumption, and weak corporate earnings.
The earlier pre-budget consultations saw experts and industry leaders urging the government to implement measures to boost investment, education, healthcare and manufacturing sectors, among then others.
Key proposals by industry bodies, who met the finance minister, included expanding presumptive taxation to MSMEs and emerging sectors like data centres and cloud computing, spurring job creation, integrating India into global value chains, and taking measures to boost domestic consumption.
Meanwhile, suggestions made by economists in their pre-budget consultations with the finance minister include the creation of a national manufacturing policy to strengthen the sector, reflecting the government's renewed focus on industrial revival and proposals to boost demand through reductions in personal income and corporate taxes.
"The finance minister and top finance ministry officials meet over 100 leaders from various sectors seeking their inputs in the pre-budget consultation process," a finance ministry official said, under the condition of anonymity.
Trade union leaders who attended the pre budget meeting on Monday included Pawan Kumar, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, Amarjeet Kaur, general secretary of the All Indian Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Harbhajan Singh Sindhu, General secretary of Hind Mazdoor Sabha, Swadesh Dev Roye, national secretary, Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), Ramesh Parashar of AIUTUC, among others.
Key Takeaways
- The pre-budget consultations involve diverse stakeholders to inform budgetary decisions.
- Engagement with trade unions reflects the government’s commitment to inclusive economic policymaking.
- The upcoming budget is expected to address pressing economic challenges and stimulate growth.
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Business NewsBudgetBudget: Trade unions seek pay parity, higher pensions, social security
First Published:6 Jan 2025, 01:24 PM IST
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