Experts to PM: Time to step up growth

New Delhi, NT Bureau: Ahead of the upcoming budget, eminent economists during a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged the government to take steps to accelerate economic growth and improve infrastructure, sources said.

The meeting was organised by the NITI Aayog on Thursday to elicit views and suggestions of economists for the first budget of the Modi 3.0 government.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to present the Budget for 2024-25 in the Lok Sabha on July 23.

Finance Minister Sitharaman, Planning Minister Rao Inderjit Singh, Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran and economists Surjit Bhalla and Ashok Gulati and veteran banker K V Kamath, among others, were present in the meeting.

Sitharaman has already held discussions with various stakeholders, including economists and captains of Indian industry, on the forthcoming Budget.

Several experts have urged the government to provide tax relief to the common man to boost consumption and take steps to check inflation and accelerate economic growth. The economy has recorded a growth rate of 8.2 per cent in 2023-24.