Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was set to present India's national budget for the next fiscal in the Lok Sabha on Monday amid concerns over the country's stagnating growth rate, government deficit and direction of reforms.
On the way to the Parliament House, which he reached at around 9:40 am, Jaitley went to his North Block office with his deputy Jayant Sinha and the budget team for a last-minute consultation. He is due to present the budget at 11 am, afer a quick meeting of the cabinet.
The Economic Survey that was tabled by him on Friday somewhat set the tone for what to expect. "The coming year is expected to be a challenging one from the fiscal point of view because of challenges posed by a lower-than-projected nominal GDP growth," it sdaid.
It has also called for re-calibration of expectations.