Nirmala Sitharaman Calls On President Droupadi Murmu Ahead Of Budget 2024 Presentation

New Delhi: Ahead of Interim Budget 2024 presentation, Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday called on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

She was accompanied by Ministers of State for Finance Dr Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad and Pankaj Chaudhary and senior officials of the Ministry of Finance.

President Murmu extended her best wishes to Sitharaman, who will be presenting the budget for the sixth time.

Former Prime Minister Moraji Desai was the only other Finance Minister to have presented the budget six times. Her predecessors Arun Jaitley, Manmohan Singh, P Chidambaram, and Yashwant Sinha, could present only five Budgets in Parliament.

The Interim Budget, also known as a Vote-on-Account, is a mechanism that allows the government to seek parliamentary approval for essential expenditures for a limited period. It will be a breakdown of the government’s income and expenditures until the formation of new government. Though major announcements are unlikely, the expectations of people is high as it is the election year and Sitharaman had said the ruling party will have to walk a fine line between pleasing people and also keeping fiscal deficit in check.

The government in the budget last year was generous towards the salaried class with change in income tax slabs, yet they are eyeing exemption under Section 80C and 80D. The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are expecting policies to ease regulatory procedures and reduction in compliance process.

The Budget speech will be telecast live on the official channel of Parliament Sansad TV and Doordarshan.