Union Budget 2019: What time will Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman give the Budget speech

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government will present its maiden Budget after taking charge in office for the second consecutive term following their landslide victory in the Lok Sabha 2019 elections. 

It will be the second calendar year budget, as earlier, in February, ahead of the April-May Lok Sabha elections, Piyush Goyal who had been the interim Finance Minister had presented the interim budget 2019 in Parliament. 

Budget Date

On Friday, July 05 2019,  Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Budget in the Lok Sabha, scripting history as the first full-time woman to do so since former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who had also held the finance portfolio when she had presented the budget 48 years ago. 

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Budget Time

Union Minister Sitharaman's maiden Budget speech in the Parliament would begin at 11 AM on Friday and would entail the 89th Union budget, including interim ones that Independent India has seen. Apart from being presented by a woman Finance Minister after 48 years, the Budget is significant considering its the first Union Budget presented by the Modi 2.0 government.
 
Following the presentation of the Budget in the Parliament, both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will be adjourned for the day. Budget Consultation Exercise.

On Thursday, Nirmala Sitharaman had tabled the Economic Survey 2019 prepared by Chief Economic Advisor KV Subramanian, wherein there was projection for a 7.0% growth rate for the Indian economy in FY2019-20.

What to expect from the Budget? 

The pre-Budget consultation exercise began in the second week of June, as the Finance Minister met with economists, banks and financial institutions as well as industry chambers. 

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Sitharaman had said that the concerns of the agriculture sector are high on the priority of the present government and stressed on the representation of the different regions of the country so that their specific needs relating to these sectors can also be considered.

She had also said that the Finance Ministry will also hold broad-based consultations with different stakeholders from the fisheries sector to bring about a blue revolution by optimally using the country's maritime resources. The Finance Minister also stressed the need for encouraging start-ups which can remove the segmentation in the agriculture market and help in providing remunerative markets for agriculture products and supplying it to the final consumers at reasonable prices.

The main areas of discussion during the meeting included agriculture research and extension services, rural development, non-farm sector, horticulture, food processing, animal husbandry, fisheries and start-ups in agricultural sector among others, added the statement.