Budget 2024: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Likely To Present Union Budget By Third Week of July

Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took charge of the Ministry of Finance for her second consecutive term on June 12. With Sitharaman now back in charge as the Finance Minister, she would be working towards releasing the Union Bduget 2024 soon.

The Modi 2.0 government had announced the Interim Budget on February 1, 2024. However, with the general elections wrapped up and a new coalition government in place, the Union Budget is expected to be released soon.

As per reports, sources from the Finance Ministry have shared that Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to announce the Union Budget 2024 in mid-July.

Speaking to Business Today, sources added that the Finance Ministry will begin its pre-consultation Budget meetings with other ministries and stakeholders from June 17 onwards.

As per news agency ANI, the Finance Minister has directed officials to begin preparing the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. With this, the Finance Ministry will likely table the Union Budget 2024-25 by the third week of July.

Along with the preparations of the Budget, the 53rd GST Council meet will be held on June 22.

What Happened In The Interim Budget?

In the interim budget, Finance Minister Sitharaman maintained a fiscal consolidation path of below 4.5 percent by 2026.

During the interim budget, FM Sitharaman announced that the government had pulled 25 crore people out of poverty in the past ten years and has provided free food to the poor through various schemes.

The FM also revealed that the rate of inflation has moderated and is withing the target range of two to six percent. The tax slabs for Indians also remained unchanged in the interim budget.