Whole world is paying attention to India’s budget: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the media at Parliament House on the first day of budget session in New Delhi on January 31, 2023
| Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Amid the current global economic downturn, the whole world will be watching India’s 2023 Budget, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said ahead of the first day of the Budget session in Parliament.

Mr. Modi said this year’s Budget will not only try to fulfill the hopes and aspirations of the common man in India, but also be the ray of hope to the world.

“I have full faith that Nirmala [Sitharaman] ji will make utmost efforts to fulfill these expectations,” he told the media ahead of the Finance Minister’s Budget presentation.

“The BJP-led NDA government has had only one objective, one motto, one goal, and the central idea of our work culture has been ‘India First, Citizen First’. Our countrymen come first,” he said.

Mr. Modi said that President Droupadi Murmu’s first address to both Houses of Parliament jointly was a matter of great pride for the country as it was an “occasion to respect women and to respect the great tribal tradition of our country”.

“The Finance Minister of our country is also a woman, she is coming in front of the country tomorrow with another Budget. In today’s global situation, not only India’s but the whole world’s attention is on India’s Budget.”

The Prime Minister also invited Opposition leaders to debate the new Budget. “There will be debate in the Budget session as well… and I am sure that all our Opposition friends will present their views in the House after studying [the Budget] closely with great preparation.”

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the last full-fledged Union Budget of the Modi government before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on February 1. The Economic Survey will be tabled on January 31 after the President’s address.

The first part of Budget Session of the Parliament will go on till February 10. The Parliament will reconvene on March 12 and go on till April 6.