Budget 2023: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday chaired the meeting of the Union Council of Ministers in New Delhi ahead of the Union Budget. The Union Budget to be presented in Parliament on February 1 will be the last full budget of the Modi government before the 2024 general elections.
The first meeting to be held for the Union Council of Ministers in 2023 began at 10 am and is expected to end in the evening. Sources said the functioning of several ministries and policy initiatives taken by the Narendra Modi government will be reviewed and discussed.
This comes amid talks of a cabinet reshuffle and ahead of assembly elections in nine states due this year. The Finance Ministry is considering proposals to benefit the middle class in the upcoming budget.
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Sources said the finance ministry is looking into the proposals sent by various government departments on specific steps that could be announced in the budget, which would benefit a large section of the middle class.
The government has not raised the income tax exemption limit from Rs 2.5 lakh that was set by the then finance minister Arun Jaitley in his first budget in 2014.