Jaitley To Meet State Finance Ministers To Discuss Union Budget

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will today meet state finance ministers to discuss the next year’s Union budget. Thereafter, the finance minister will commence pre-budget consultations with industrialists, trade unions and other stakeholders.

Jaitley will meet industry and trade groups on January 6, 2015. The following day, he will hold discussion on the agriculture sector. This would be the first full-fledged budget of the Narendra Modi government. Modi government had assumed power in May this year and Jaitley had presented the budget in July.

In his meeting state finance ministers, Jaitley is likely to discuss issues pertaining to the proposed Goods and Service Tax (GST). A broad consensus on the constitutional amendment Bill for the new indirect tax system was recently reached. The government is keen to implement GST in the next financial year in a bid to accelerate economic growth.