New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present today Budget 2020. This will be Sitharaman’s second budget as finance minister.
The Budget session will commence at 11 am in the Lok Sabha for fiscal 2020-21. Usually, the duration of the presentation ranges from 90 to 120 minutes.
Sitharaman is the only second woman after Indira Gandhi to present the budget. This is the second Budget of the Narendra Modi-led government after it retained power for the second time in May 2019 general elections.
The entire nation is all keen to see Sitharaman presenting the Budget on Saturday and is expected that the government will declare measures to accelerate economic growth.
In its annual economic report, released on Friday, the government predicted that economic growth would pick up to 6.0% to 6.5% in the fiscal year beginning April 1, but warned that it may have exceed its deficit target to revive growth.
In a bid to promote ‘Make in India’ and boost manufacturing growth, the government may increase customs duty on several products like paper, footwear, rubber items and toys in the forthcoming Budget.
Sitharaman had presented her maiden budget in July last year, shortly after the BJP-led government came back to power in the Centre.