Ahead of Budget, PM Modi Meets With Leading Economists, Industry Leaders And Sector Experts

Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi on Saturday (22 June) chaired a meeting with 40 economists and industry experts. The meeting gains significance as it took place close to the Union budget's presentation which is to take place on 5 July, reports The Economic Times.

Among the focus areas for the meeting were further opening up of the banking and insurance sectors for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), speeding up the disinvestment process and management of water resources.

The meeting had been organised by the NITI Aayog with the agenda, 'Economic Policy- The Road Ahead'. During its course, participating dignitaries shared their views on the separate economic themes of health, education, exports, employment, and agriculture and water resources.

Prominent industry leaders who had joined the meeting included N Chandrasekaran (Chairman, Tata Sons), T V Narendran (Global CEO and MD, Tata Steel), Anil Agarwal (Chairman, Vedanta Resources), Sanjiv Puri (Chairman and MD, ITC), and Vijay Shekhar Sharma (CEO, Paytm).

Among the leading economists and sector experts attending the meeting were, Bimal Jalan (former RBI Governor), Shankar Acharya (former Chief Economic Adviser), Surjit Bhalla (former PMEAC member), Vikram Limay (CEO, NSE), Sonal Varma (Chief Economist, Nomura), Shekhar Shah (DG, NCAER), and Bibek Debroy (Chairman, EAC-PM).