New Delhi: The 2025-26 Budget Session begins today (Jan 31) with President Droupadi Murmu addressing both Houses of Parliament.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table the Economic Survey when both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will convene briefly after the President's address later in the day.
Significantly, the Finance Minister will present her 8th straight Budget on Saturday, Feb. 1. Both houses will take up discussion on President Murmu's address to Parliament on Monday.
Lok Sabha has provisionally allotted two days (February 3-4) for discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address, while Rajya Sabha has earmarked three days for the debate. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to reply to the debate in Rajya Sabha on February 6.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju convened a meeting of floor leaders of political parties in Parliament on January 30 to ensure the smooth functioning of the Budget Session. The first part of the Budget Session will have nine sittings from January 31 to February 13.
Parliament will then break for recess to examine the budget proposals on February 13 and meet again on March 10 to discuss the demands for grants of various ministries and complete the budgetary process. The session will conclude on April 4. The entire Budget Session will have 27 sittings.
Challenges before FM
The Budget will have to address several challenges, including decelerating economic growth, falling value of Rupee against the US dollar and moderation in consumption demand. The economic growth is estimated to slow to a 4-year low of 6.4 per cent in FY25. This is the lowest growth since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic which hit the world in 2019.
Sitharaman, who had steered the Indian economy through many difficult phases, including once-in-a-century pandemic, is again confronted with economic deceleration, moderation in consumption, stagnant private investment, and an uncertain geopolitical situation. On account of various factors, the rupee plunged to an all-time low of 86.7 per US dollar earlier this month.
The team, assisting the Finance Minister in framing Budget proposals for 2025-26, includes Revenue Secretary Pandey, Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth, Expenditure Secretary Manoj Govil, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary Arunish Chawla, Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju, and Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran.
The uphill task before the Finance Minister and her team would be to bolster growth without sacrificing fiscal prudence. The government is also expected to stick to the fiscal glide path of reducing the fiscal deficit to below 4.5 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in FY26 amidst various headwinds.
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