By Kavita Mistry 
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday began the first round of pre-Budget consultations for the Union Budget 2026–27, meeting with leading economists and representatives from the agriculture sector to gather inputs on growth, investment, and fiscal priorities.
The meeting, attended by Department of Economic Affairs Secretary, Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran, and other senior officials from the Finance Ministry, saw economists share their views on the current macroeconomic environment and policy measures needed to sustain momentum in a challenging global context.
Prominent economists in attendance included Neelkanth Misra (Axis Bank), Sajid Chinoy (J.P. Morgan), Ridham Desai (Morgan Stanley), Dharmakirti Joshi (CRISIL), Sonal Varma (Nomura), Pranjul Bhandari (HSBC), Tanvee Gupta Jain (UBS), and Nikhil Gupta (CLSA). Discussions centered on maintaining fiscal prudence while supporting investment-led growth, improving private capex recovery, and strengthening employment generation.
In a separate meeting later in the day, the finance minister also held consultations with representatives from the agriculture sector, focusing on measures to improve rural incomes, enhance productivity, strengthen agri-infrastructure, and ensure better price realisation for farmers. Issues such as climate resilience, credit flow to agri-businesses, and the use of technology in farm value chains were also discussed.
The pre-Budget consultations will continue through the week, with the next round scheduled for Wednesday, when Sitharaman will meet stakeholders from the MSME and manufacturing sectors. These discussions are expected to focus on credit availability, ease of doing business, and steps to boost domestic production and exports.
The pre-Budget consultation process marks the beginning of the government’s preparations for the Union Budget 2026–27, which will likely prioritise growth, job creation, and fiscal consolidation in the run-up to India’s goal of becoming a developed economy by 2047.