Parliament's budget session to commence on January 31; Union Budget to be presented on February 1

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Parliament's budget session is likely to commence on January 31 and is expected to conclude on April 6 with a recess in between, news agency ANI reported citing government sources on January 2.

The session will start with an address by President Droupadi Murmu to the joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in the Central Hall of Parliament. This will be the first address to the two Houses of Parliament by President Murmu since her elevation to the top post in August last year.

The Economic Survey will also be tabled in both Houses on the first day of the budget session, ANI's report added.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be presenting the Union Budget on February 1 for the fiscal starting April. It will be the fifth budget of the Modi 2.0 government and Sitharaman and the last full budget before the general elections slated in April-May 2024.

The sources also told ANI that the first part of the budget session is expected to continue till February 10.

They said that after a recess during which the standing committees examine the demands of grants of various ministries, the second part of the budget session is likely to start on March 6 and conclude on April 6.

During the first part of the budget session, the two Houses have a detailed discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address followed by a discussion on the Union Budget.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reply to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address, the finance minister will reply to the debate on the Union Budget.

During the second part of the budget session, the major focus is on the discussion on the demands for grants for various ministries apart from the government’s legislative agenda. The Union Budget, a money bill, is passed during this part of the session.

Meanwhile, Sitharaman recently indicated that her forthcoming Budget will continue to push growth on the back of public spending as she said it will "follow the spirit" of earlier Budgets. The finance minister had unveiled a massive public spending programme to support the economy, emerging out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Budget 2023-24 will be presented against the backdrop of many institutions, including the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), slashing India's growth forecast to 6.8 percent or so for the current fiscal.

The RBI projected the real GDP growth for 2022-23 at 6.8 percent, with the third quarter at 4.4 percent and the fourth at 4.2 percent.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is projected at 7.1 percent for the April-June period of 2023-24 and at 5.9 percent for the following quarter.

During the last session, nine bills were introduced in Lok Sabha and seven bills were passed by the lower House of Parliament.

The Rajya Sabha passed nine bills and the total number of bills passed by both Houses of Parliament during the session was nine.

(With inputs from ANI)