New Delhi: Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the pre-budget consultations with the Finance Ministers of States and Union Territories (with Legislature) in New Delhi, today.

The meeting was attended by Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, Chief Ministers of Goa, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Sikkim, Deputy Chief Ministers of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana, State Finance Ministers and other Ministers, and Senior Officers from the States and Union Territories (with Legislature) and the Union Government.

The Finance Secretary welcomed all the participants to the meeting. Most Ministers appreciated the Government of India’s ‘Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment’ and gave some suggestions for further improvement. The participants also gave several valuable suggestions to the Union Finance Minister for inclusion in the Union Budget for FY 2024-25, along with some State-specific requests.

In her remarks, the Union Finance Minister underlined Union Government’s support to States through timely tax devolution, Finance Commission grants, and arrears of GST Compensation being provided for providing stimulus to growth. Regarding the ‘Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment’, Sitharaman mentioned that while most of the loans are untied, a part of it is conditional-linked to citizen-centric reforms by States and sector-specific capital projects and requested the States to avail these loans by fulfilling requisite criteria.

The Union Finance Minister thanked all the delegates for their inputs and suggestions and assured them of due consideration by the Union Government during the preparation of Union Budget 2024-25.