NEW DELHI: A day after the BJP swept up Lok Sabha polls, the ruling government has started working on the economic agenda of NDA 2.0, with focus on falling revenue, liquidity crisis, fiscal consolidation and the Economic Survey, which is slated to be presented in July.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday held a meeting with top bureaucrats of the ministry, discussing the future economic roadmap, amid concerns over dwindling revenue collection, widening the fiscal deficit and slowing growth.
The meeting, just ahead of the dissolving of the Cabinet, gains significance in the backdrop of speculations in political circles that Jaitley, on account of his poor health, will be replaced with Amit Shah or Piyush Goyal. Officials said he appeared healthy and will attend office next week too.
A separate meeting was held by finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg and was attended by revenue secretary, officials of economic affairs ministry and NITI members, among others. “...The focus of the meeting was to discuss the Economic Survey.
The general consensus was that the survey should have dedicated chapters on job creation and employment, a concern flagged by India Inc in their wish list for the second innings of NDA,” a senior official told TNIE. Issues like the merger of GST slabs and farmers’ income are likely to be detailed in the Economic Survey.