Sitharaman is expected to present the budget for 2026-27 on the usual date of February 1 (2026) but a formal notification to this effect is awaited.
Some of the economists told the minister that the latest cuts in the goods and services tax (GST), on top of the income-tax relief granted in the 2025-26 budget, would spur consumption and encourage private players to step up investments in the coming fiscal, people familiar with the details told ET.
Economists say govt has bandwidth to roll out growth-supportive budget, call for keeping up elevated capex
They also urged Sitharaman to keep up the Centre’s elevated capital spending, which is expected to crowd in private investors and help sustain growth momentum, the people said.
Some of them also called on the government to upgrade the manufacturing mission, announced in the last budget, into a broad-based manufacturing policy that caters for the needs of small and medium businesses, generates large-scale employment and cuts India’s import reliance.
They pitched for policy support for large-scale adoption of the plug-and-play model to encourage private players to ramp up investments.
The meeting with more than a dozen economists was also attended by economic affairs secretary Anuradha Thakur, chief economic advisor V Anantha Nageswaran and senior officials from the Department of Economic Affairs.
This meeting was followed by another with representatives from farmers’ associations and agriculture economists. Agriculture secretary Devesh Chaturvedi also took part in the second meeting.