Budget 2025 session to begin today, FM Nirmala Sitharaman to table Economic Survey

The Budget Session of Parliament is set to begin on Friday (January 31) with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman scheduled to table the Economic Survey after President Droupadi Murmu addresses the joint session of both Houses. The Economic Survey is a report card on the economy prepared by the Finance Ministry. It will set the stage for the presentation of the Union Budget 2025-26 on Saturday, February 1.

The Economic Survey apart from analysing in detail the performance of the economy across various sectors, presents the short- to medium-term outlook for the Indian economy. It also contains suggestions for the government's fiscal policy but these are not binding.

The Finance Minister is expected to continue with the government's policy of stepping up investments in big-ticket infrastructure projects to spur growth and create more jobs in the economy in the Budget for 2025-26. The agriculture and rural sectors are expected to get increased allocations as are welfare schemes to uplift the poor.

There may be sops for the middle class with some reduction in income tax rates to place more disposable income in the hands of the people to accelerate demand and give a further fillip to growth. Besides, some changes in customs duties to correct the inverted duty structure in some items to help domestic manufacturing appear to be on the cards. The first leg of the Budget Session will begin on January 31 and end on February 13 while the second leg will begin on March 10 and end on April 4.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from IANS)