FM Nirmala Sitharaman
PTI

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will start her pre-budget consultations with different stakeholder groups from tomorrow (i.e. Monday, December 14) in New Delhi, the News Services Division of the All India Radio reported.

The meetings will be held virtually in connection with the forthcoming General Budget 2021-22, which is likely to be presented by Sitharaman on February 1 next year.

The Finance Ministry notified that Union Minister will be holding her first pre-budget consultations with top industrialists tomorrow, spread over morning and afternoon sessions.

The Finance Minister traditionally meets various stakeholders — including economists, industry leaders, farmers, and other civil society members as part of the pre-Budget consultation talks to chalk out necessities of the nation's Budget.

The proposals are discussed with the Prime Minister, following which the final call of the Budget is taken.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also on this day took stock of progress made under various schemes under the three Aatmanirbhar Bharat Packages (ANBP) to help revive the economy hit hard by the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.

Following announcement by the Prime Minister, Sitharaman presented the details of the Rs 20.97 lakh crore ANBP 1.0 in a series of press conferences from May 13-17. It was followed by AatmaNirbhar Bharat Package 2.0 on October 12 and the third tranche on November 12.

Sharing details of the progress made by various schemes under the ANBP, the statement said, banks have sanctioned loans worth Rs 2,05,563 crore to about 81 lakh accounts under the Rs 3-lakh crore Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) for the MSME sector that was impacted by disruptions caused due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The RBI had in August set up the committee headed by former ICICI Bank chairman K V Kamath for suggesting financial parameters to be factored in the resolution plans under the ''Resolution Framework for COVID-19 related Stress'' along with sector specific benchmark ranges for such parameters.

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