FinMin gets into Budget mode, to meet industry bodies next week

“These will be closed door meetings and will largely work as a sounding board to the finance ministry on issues that the industry expects will be looked into in the next Budget,” a person close to the development said.

A critical element of these meetings will be how industry reacts to the plans for the revised Direct Taxes Code (DTC) and the two Parthasarathi Shome committee reports on non-resident taxation and those on FIIs.

The formal parleys of industrialists and industry chambers with finance minister P Chidambaram are expected in early January. “Parliament is currently in session. The minister will be involved in discussions with industry at a later stage,” a senior official said.

Industry chamber Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce is scheduled to meet the revenue secretary on December 10 while Confederation of Indian Industries will meet the officials on December 13. Meetings with other industry chambers are also scheduled for next week.

“These will be individual meetings where each group can present and discuss their pre-Budget memorandums,” the person said.

The finance ministry has already begun intensive meetings with line ministries from last month to discuss the limits on spending for this fiscal and plans for the next fiscal.

The meetings convened by the Budget division of the

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