FM Nirmala Sitharaman reviews progress of implementation of Union Budget schemes

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday (July 4) chaired a review meeting on the implementation of various Union Budget announcements with secretaries of the finance ministry and corporate affairs secretary.

The meeting was attended by Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Financial Services Secretary Vivek Joshi, Corporate Affairs Secretary Manoj Govil, and other senior officials.

Besides, the review of the implementation of various schemes of the Union Budget, the minister underlined the importance of continuous assessment of progress to ensure that the schemes are implemented in a time-bound manner.

Asia's third-largest economy beat all estimates to grow at 6.1 percent in January-March, the last quarter of 2022-23 fiscal, up from a revised 4.5 percent in the previous quarter.

The growth was boosted by a 5.5 percent expansion in agriculture and a 4.5 percent growth in manufacturing. Other sectors of the economy — construction, services, and mining — too posted handsome growth rates.

The economic expansion was recorded at 6.1 percent during the March 2023 quarter, while it was 4.5% in October-December and 6.2 percent in July-September 2022.

For the full 2022-23 fiscal (April 2022 to March 2023), the growth now stands revised to 7.2 percent, above the earlier projection of 7 percent but lower than the 9.1 percent expansion in 2021-22.