PM Narendra Modi to meet top economists at NITI Aayog today, review economic growth

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet leading economists and financial experts on Saturday during which the macroeconomic situation of the country will be reviewed.

Today's meeting comes amid concerns over slow economic growth in the country. The high-level meeting comes days ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 5. 

According to government sources, Prime Minister Modi will also hold discussions on the Union Budget and the proposals made for taxpayers.

The meeting is scheduled to take place at NITI Aayog around 4.30 PM.

During the review meeting, the economists and top NITI Aayog officials will also make presentations before the Prime Minister.

It may be recalled that Union Finance Minister Sitharaman held a pre-budget meeting with the state finance ministers on Friday.

She is scheduled to present the Union Budget for 2019-20 on July 5. The Economic Survey for the current financial year will be tabled on July 4.

On Wednesday, the Finance Minister held the 20th meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) to review the current global and domestic economic situation and financial stability issues including, inter-alia, those concerning Banking and NBFCs.

The Council was also apprised of the progress made towards setting-up of the Financial Data Management Centre (FDMC) to facilitate integrated data aggregation and analysis as also a Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-Fin) towards strengthening the cyber-security framework for the financial sector.

Nirmala Sitharaman had earlier reviewed the state of the economy and discussed various budget-related suggestions and proposals at a meeting with financial sector regulators here on Wednesday.

The FSDC meeting was also attended by Anurag Thakur, MoS (Finance &Corporate Affairs), Shaktikanta Das, Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI); Subhash Chandra Garg, Finance Secretary and Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs; Rajiv Kumar, Secretary, Department of Financial Services; Injeti Srinivas, Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs; Ajay Bhushan Pandey, Revenue Secretary; Dr. Krishnamurthy V. Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance; Ajay Tyagi, Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India; Subhash Chandra Khuntia, Chairman, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India(IRDAI); Dr. M. S. Sahoo, Chairperson, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI); Ravi Mital, Additional Secretary, Department of Financial Services and in charge, Chairperson, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority(PFRDA); and other senior officers of the Government of India and the Financial Sector Regulators.