The monsoon session of Parliament is expected to start on 22 July and run until 9 August. According to a media report, the highly anticipated union budget 2024 will be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the session's first day.
Notably, the upcoming budget has caught everyone’s attention since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his cabinet for the third consecutive term and Modi’s government reinstated Nirmala Sitharaman, as the Finance Minister.
Previously, Sitharaman presented an interim budget on 1 February, that served as a temporary financial plan before a new budget was enacted to keep government operations running.
Fitch Ratings projects that the election losses will not prompt major policy shifts. Instead, the upcoming budget in July is likely to offer clearer insights into the government's economic reform strategies and fiscal objectives for the next five years.
The country's real gross domestic product (GDP) growth hit 8.2 per cent for the fiscal year ending in March 2024 (FY24). Fitch forecasts robust growth at 7 per cent for FY25.
Fitch expects India's medium-term growth to hover around a trend estimate of 6.2 per cent through FY28, despite the slimmer majority. Following the schedule of the Parliament’s monsoon session, the exact time and date of budget 2024 will also be announced.
As Sitharaman previously presented budgets for the years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 including the interim budget in February 2024, she became the first Finance Minister to deliver seven consecutive budget presentations. Sitharaman also served as minister of state (MoS) for finance for a short period of about seven months.
Meanwhile, Kiren Rijiju, Parliamentary Affairs Minister on X (formerly Twitter) wrote, “The first session of the 18th Lok Sabha is being summoned from June 24 to July 3 for the oath/affirmation of newly elected members, the election of the Speaker, the President’s address, and discussion thereon. The 264th session of the Rajya Sabha will commence on June 27 and conclude on 3 July.”
