This will be the first full-year Budget of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government since it came to power for a third consecutive term in July last year.
On February 1, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the 14th Budget of the Narendra Modi government since it took office in 2014.
This will also be the first full-year Budget of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government since it came to power for a third consecutive term in July last year.
Except for the economic affairs secretary and chief economic adviser, Sitharaman will have a new team of bureaucrats, who will help her chart the strategy for the upcoming Budget.
Coming on the back of a less-than-spectacular growth print of 5.4 per cent in the second quarter of the current financial year (Q2FY25), the Budget is expected to push the pedal on reforms that will boost consumption, manufacturing, and employment in the country.
The government is also expected to stick to the fiscal glide path of reducing fiscal deficit to below 4.5 per cent of GDP in FY26.
Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister
Sitharaman will be India's first finance minister to present eight consecutive Budgets, including one Interim Budget.
Sitharaman's predecessors, including Dr Manmohan Singh, Arun Jaitley, P Chidambaram, and Yashwant Sinha, had presented five Budgets in a row.
She will present the FY26 Budget amid rising global uncertainties and slowing domestic demand while private capex is yet to gain pace.
The finance minister is expected to push public expenditure amid demands for tax breaks for the middle class for a consumption-led economic recovery.
Sitharaman, who studied economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, has held the commerce and defence portfolios in the Modi government's first tenure.
She has been elected to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka.
Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Finance and Revenue Secretary
Finance Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey took charge as the revenue secretary in the finance ministry on January 9.
Raising revenue while also simplifying the taxation system will be the big challenge before Pandey in the upcoming Budget.
A 1987-batch Indian Administrative Service officer from the Odisha cadre, Pandey served for a little less than five years as the DIPAM (Department of Investment and Public Asset Management) secretary from October 24, 2019.
He was appointed as finance secretary last year in September.
Pandey is credited for concluding the long-pending sale of national carrier Air India and also for being instrumental in the public debut of Life Insurance Corporation during his stint as the DIPAM secretary.
Ajay Seth, Economic Affairs Secretary
A 1987-batch IAS officer from the Karnataka cadre, Seth has been the secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) in the ministry of finance since April 2021.
The DEA secretary is a key architect of the Budget-making process, focusing on fiscal planning, inter-ministerial coordination, and policy formulation.
Seth is credited with heading initiatives such as India's first sovereign green bond issuance, and the creation of the Infrastructure Finance Secretariat.
Ensuring that the economy stays on the fiscal glide path while charting out the new strategy of targeting the debt to GDP ratio will be some of the items that will be on top of Seth's agenda in the Budget.
Manoj Govil, Expenditure Secretary
A 1991-batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, Govil has been holding the position of expenditure secretary in the finance ministry since August last year.
Prior to this, he served as the secretary in the ministry of corporate affairs.
As the expenditure secretary, Govil will be responsible for approving new schemes, setting spending guidelines, and resource transfers to states, among others.
Govil holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from IIT Kanpur, a master's in public policy and a PhD in economics from Princeton University.
In his career spanning over more than three decades, he has also served as principal secretary in charge of finance and commercial taxes in the Madhya Pradesh government.
Arunish Chawla, DIPAM and DPE Secretary
A 1992-batch IAS officer from the Bihar cadre, Chawla was made the secretary in DIPAM on January 8, after his 15-day stint as revenue secretary.
He also temporarily oversees the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) and the ministry of culture.
As DIPAM secretary, Chawla will lead the government's effort in divestment, monetisation, and the sale of IDBI Bank, among other key initiatives.
His role is particularly crucial given the shift in the government's approach towards divestment in 2024.
Previous to his current role, Chawla served as the secretary in the department of pharmaceuticals in the ministry of chemicals and fertilisers since November 1, 2023.
M Nagaraju, Financial Services Secretary
A 1993 batch Tripura-cadre IAS officer, Nagaraju was appointed as the secretary of the department of financial services (DFS) in the finance ministry on August 19, 2024.
Nagaraju will be one of the key persons advising the finance minister on fintech regulations, financial inclusion, and building upon the digital financial infrastructure in this Budget.
Nagaraju has also served as advisor to the executive director at the World Bank in Washington, DC, from 2008 to 2012, enhancing his expertise in international finance.
A postgraduate from the University of Hyderabad, Nagaraju has previously held posts of secretary and principal secretary in important departments, including health, women and child development, finance, and industries & commerce.
V Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor
An author and teacher, Nageswaran as the chief economic advisor (CEA) to the Government of India is one of the closest advisors of Sitharaman.
The CEA creates the macro-economic backdrop under which the Budget targets are set and the Budget speech is written.
The CEA, with his team of economists, authors the Economic Survey, which is presented a day before the Budget (January 31).
Analysts often try to guess the likely mood of the Budget from the Survey.
His three-year term is coming to an end this financial year.
Nageswaran is an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and holds a doctoral degree from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
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