Business
FM Nirmala Sitharaman Chairs First Pre-Budget Talks With Economists For Union Budget 2026-27
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The meeting sees the participation of several eminent economists who shared their views and suggestions on the state of the economy and policy priorities for the next fiscal year.
Pre-Budget consultations are a crucial part of the budget-making process, allowing the government to take on board diverse perspectives from stakeholders across sectors before finalising the Union Budget.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday chaired the first pre-budget consultation with leading economists in connection with the upcoming Union Budget 2026-27, in New Delhi. The Budget 2026-27, which will be the ninth consecutive Budget to be presented by Sitharaman, will be tabled in Parliament on February 1. However, the official announcement is yet to be made.
The meeting saw the participation of several eminent economists who shared their views and suggestions on the state of the economy and policy priorities for the next fiscal year. The meeting was also attended by the Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), the Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India, and other senior officials from the Ministry of Finance.
Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. @nsitharaman chairs the first Pre-Budget Consultation with leading economists in connection with the upcoming Union Budget 2026-27, in New Delhi, today.The meeting was also attended by Secretary, Department of Economic… pic.twitter.com/I9yn5FxpOD
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) November 10, 2025
“Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman chairs the first Pre-Budget Consultation with leading economists in connection with the upcoming Union Budget 2026-27, in New Delhi, today. The meeting was also attended by secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), finance ministry; and chief economic adviser, Government of India, besides senior officers from the DEA,” the finance ministry said in a post on X on Monday, November 10, 2025.
Pre-Budget consultations are a crucial part of the budget-making process, allowing the government to take on board diverse perspectives from stakeholders across sectors before finalising the Union Budget.
The Indian economy gained momentum in the second quarter (July-September) of the current financial year Despite United States imposing higher tariffs on India in August, according to the finance ministry’s latest monthly economic review.
The report highlighted that against a global backdrop characterised by economic and trade policy uncertainty, India’s economy continued to strengthen in Q2 FY26.
It stated “this is particularly significant, as the United States imposed higher tariffs on India in August”.
This acceleration, despite external headwinds, highlights the resilience of the domestic economy and the effectiveness of ongoing structural reforms.
According to the monthly economic review, various supply-side high-frequency indicators (HFIs) displayed healthy trends, while demand conditions improved on the back of GST reforms and positive festive season sentiments, which spurred consumption.
Haris is Deputy News Editor (Business) at news18.com. He writes on various issues related to personal finance, markets, economy and companies. Having over a decade of experience in financial journalism, Haris h…Read More
Haris is Deputy News Editor (Business) at news18.com. He writes on various issues related to personal finance, markets, economy and companies. Having over a decade of experience in financial journalism, Haris h… Read More
November 10, 2025, 11:38 IST
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New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday held first pre-budget consultations with leading economists ahead of the upcoming Union Budget 2026-27.
The meeting was attended by Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) V. Anantha Nageswaran, besides other economists and senior officers from the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA).
“Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs @nsitharaman chairs the first Pre-Budget Consultation with leading economists in connection with the upcoming Union Budget 2026-27, in New Delhi, today,” said an X post from Ministry of Finance.
“The meeting was also attended by Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) @FinMinIndia; and Chief Economic Adviser, Government of India, besides senior officers from the DEA,” the ministry added.
As part of the ongoing pre-budget consultations, the government has been holding a series of meetings with industry representatives to gather inputs for the upcoming Union Budget.
The discussions are centred on enhancing the ease of doing business and extending tax benefits to the last mile.
Late last month, senior officials from the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) on Wednesday met Revenue Secretary Arvind Srivastava to present the industry’s recommendations on direct and indirect tax policies.
PHDCCI CEO and Secretary General, Dr Ranjit Mehta, said the discussions focused on both taxation and business facilitation. “We also discussed ease of doing business, which is the government’s focus,” he noted, adding that the Chamber had shared specific suggestions to ease liquidity challenges faced by micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Meanwhile, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has called for comprehensive tax reforms in the Union Budget 2026-27, including expedition of dispute resolution, simplification of TDS regime and digitised customs systems.
The apex industry body emphasised the need to move towards a “compliance system rooted in trust, simplicity, and technology,” and accountable for administrative delays.
CII Director-General Chandrajit Banerjee said that India’s tax system needs to shift from being dispute-driven to dispute-preventive. “The tax system must ensure that taxation not only raises revenue efficiently but also acts as a catalyst for investment, innovation and competitiveness. The Budget can be a pivot for a truly modern, transparent and globally benchmarked tax regime,” Banerjee said.
The government is expected to continue engaging with various industry bodies in the coming weeks before finalising its proposals for the Union Budget.
BBCWith its beautiful beaches, low crime rate and small community, Jersey is often considered an attractive place to raise children.
But parents have told the BBC that high costs and a lack of effective support from politicians and employers mean the island does not cater to families as well as it could.
Mother to a one and three-year-old, Katherine Jauncey said she believed there needed to be a “cultural shift” away from prioritising the social wellbeing of older islanders to focus on parents and children.
The island’s government said it understood families struggled with the high cost of living and it had set up several initiatives “aimed at improving family life in Jersey”.
Mrs Jauncey moved to Jersey with her husband who was born and raised there.
She said some aspects of bringing up her children on the island were “really great”, such as how safe it was and the system of state-supported private schools.
However, she added: “Families and individuals with children are really not prioritised in Jersey culture”.
“There’s a work culture that is unfairly weighted on the side of the employer… and the fact that our culture as an island is very much directed towards the elderly who have a large amount of the voting power.”
She said the island was “focused on the people who are shouting the loudest”, adding that often older people were the ones with the time and energy to do so.
‘Lack of childcare’
Mrs Jauncey said, despite a push to get women in particular back into the workforce, there was a “lack of support for parents with children under five” made worse by a “lack of affordable childcare”.
A report prepared for the government in 2024 found average childcare fees in Jersey were almost 50% higher than in England, while a survey of parents found 95% of those asked thought childcare was too expensive.
The government has announced plans to introduce an additional 15 free hours of nursery care per week for two-year-olds, but there has been concern from parents and nursery staff that it will not be enough.
Family campaigner and mother-of-three Denise Heavey said her own experience of paying nursery fees was “financially crippling”.
“Some months we were paying £2,200 and that was my salary swallowed up,” she said.
She kept working while her children were young but said a lot of parents were “forced out of the workplace because of the high cost of nursery care”.
To remedy this, she said the government needed to think about greater financial support for parents, particularly when returning to work after parental leave.
She added that businesses should also work harder to implement family-friendly policies, such as flexible working arrangements.
Mrs Jauncey has also called for greater statutory rights for working parents, including specific days outside annual leave to look after sick children.
It is not just the cost of childcare that is a cause for concern.
Single mother Karla Divin said the cost of living as a whole was the “most dominant concern” for parents.
In Jersey, prices are continuing to rise with the latest figures showing inflation at 2.8%.
Ms Divin said: “Childcare fees, rent, household bills, food and general expenses often consume an entire monthly wage, leaving little to no disposable income.”
She said this often meant families had to sacrifice experiences that could support a child’s development, such as school trips or extracurricular activities.
“Parents are often forced to prioritise essentials over opportunity,” she said.
Errol Mittoo, a father of four, told the BBC the island had a lot to offer young people but the “cost of bringing up a family was quite high”.
“You do struggle a bit when you’ve got children.”
What is the government doing to help?
In a statement, the government told the BBC it has introduced several measures to make lives better for families in Jersey. These included:
Alongside increased support for the nursery sector, ministers also said they had plans to publish a new play strategy to make sure children could play in all residential areas.
‘Look at solutions’
Outside government, a number of charities and individuals have stepped in to provide support.
Mrs Heavey, for example, has recently launched MentorHood, a community network offering support groups, workshops and meet ups to parents and caregivers in Jersey.
She has set up the group with another mother, Alice Vincenti, to build parents’ confidence and help them be “better performers at work and and be more present parents at home”.
However, she said it was “incredibly frustrating as a parent” that they were having to provide information and help to their peers when the government could make it readily available.
Mrs Heavey said she would like to see politicians making bold choices about childcare and support for parents, considering solutions on a much longer timeline than one political term.
She said this was a necessity given Jersey’s ageing population.
She said: “We can’t just keep saying with every new government that goes in that we’re going to basically start a project and it’s going to stop and then we start again.
“We have such a wonderful island and I think that we can be very, very family-focused, and we can look at solutions to encourage more people to bring their families here too, you know; have more children and to want to stay on the island.”
Business
Stock market today: Nifty50 opens above 25,550; BSE Sensex up over 200 points – The Times of India
Stock market today: Nifty50 and BSE Sensex, the Indian equity benchmark indices, opened in green on Monday. While Nifty50 was above 25,550, BSE Sensex was up over 200 points. At 9:16 AM, Nifty50 was trading at 25,567.90, up 76 points or 0.30%. BSE Sensex was at 83,426.94, up 211 points or 0.25%.For the week ahead, market experts expect range-bound movement influenced by mixed global factors, while potential positive corporate earnings and developments in India-US trade discussions could provide support.Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited says, “The dominant trend in global trade this year has been the AI trade, which has pushed up AI stock valuations to elevated valuations, though not yet in bubble territory. The strong earnings growth in the US has been a fundamental support to this AI trade. Countries regarded as AI winners like China, South Korea and Taiwan also have benefited from this AI rally. Now, there are signs of this AI trade losing steam as evidenced by the 3 % decline in Nasdaq last week. This is a healthy trend. If this trend persists without high volatility, that would make the US market healthy, preempting a bubble formation and its eventual burst. Investors have to watch how this trend plays out.”“This emerging trend, it persists, would be particularly favourable for the Indian market which didn’t participate in the AI trade. FIIs, particularly the hedge funds, who have been consistently selling in India and taking money out for playing the AI trade, are now likely to pause and slowly reverse the AI trade in favour for non-AI trade in countries like India. Fortunately, the earnings growth currently happening in India and expected to gather momentum, going forward, can provide the fundamental support for a rally. Watch out for the leading names in banking and finance, telecom, capital goods, defence and automobiles.”Friday saw Nasdaq close slightly lower, marking its sharpest weekly fall since early April, as investors expressed concerns about sustainability of recent gains in artificial intelligence shares. US Treasury yields showed marginal decline.Asian trading witnessed a surge in US stock-index futures, as expectations grew for a resolution to the prolonged US government shutdown.Foreign portfolio investors conducted net sales of shares valued at Rs 4,581 crore on Thursday. In contrast, domestic institutional investors were net purchasers, investing Rs 6,675 crore.(Disclaimer: Recommendations and views on the stock market, other asset classes or personal finance management tips given by experts are their own. These opinions do not represent the views of The Times of India)
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