The union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold her 1st pre-budget consultations with different stakeholder groups from Wednesday, December 15, 2021, in New Delhi and the meetings will be held virtually, the finance ministry said.

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The first meeting will be held with the experts of agriculture and the agro-processing industry.

The finance minister is likely to present her fourth budget of Modi 2.0 on February 1, 2022.

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"Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman will start her Pre-Budget consultations with different stakeholder Groups from tomorrow, 15th Dec 2021 in New Delhi in connection with the forthcoming General Budget 2022-23. The meetings will be held virtually," the union finance ministry said in a tweet.

Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman will start her Pre-Budget consultations with different stakeholder Groups from tomorrow, 15th Dec 2021 in New Delhi in connection with the forthcoming General Budget 2022-23. The meetings will be held virtually. (1/2)@nsitharamanoffc @PIB_India

— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) December 14, 2021

"Finance minister Smt @nsitharaman will be holding her 1st Pre-Budget consultations with experts of Agriculture and Agro-processing industry tomorrow afternoon, 15th Dec 2021," the ministry added.

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Finance minister Smt @nsitharaman will be holding her 1st Pre-Budget consultations with experts of Agriculture and Agro-processing industry tomorrow afternoon, 15th Dec 2021. (2/2)@nsitharamanoffc @mppchaudhary @DrBhagwatKarad @PIB_India @DDNewslive @airnewsalerts

— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) December 14, 2021

The Budget for the current fiscal had projected a growth rate of about 10.5 percent in real terms while the fiscal deficit was pegged at 6.8 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government scrapped a colonial-era tradition of presenting the Budget at the end of February. The then finance minister Arun Jaitley had for the first time presented the annual accounts on February 1, 2017.

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With the pre-ponement of the Budget, ministries are now allocated their budgeted funds from the start of the financial year beginning April. This gives government departments more leeway to spend as well as allow companies time to adapt to business and taxation plans.

Previously, when the Budget was presented at the end of February, the three-stage Parliament approval process used to get completed some time in mid-May, weeks ahead of the onset of monsoon rains.

This meant government departments would start spending on projects only from August-end or September after the monsoon season ended.

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(Edited by : Jomy Jos Pullokaran)