Nirmala Sitharaman to present her first Union Budget on July 5

The new Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her first Union Budget (for FY20) on 5 July, the government decided on Friday.

A day before the Union Budget, Sitharaman will table in Parliament the Economic Survey 2018-19 authored by chief economic adviser Krishnamurthy Subramaniam and his team. The date of presenting full budget for FY20 by the NDA government was finalized at a meeting of the union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, according to an official announcement.

The Parliament session will begin on 17 June and President Ram Nath Kovind will address a joint session of both the Houses on 20 June prior to budget presentation in the first week of July. In February, the previous NDA government had presented an interim budget and Piyush Goyal was entrusted with that job. Preparations for the full-year budget are already put in motion with individual ministries preparing their wish list, which will be considered by the Finance Ministry. The budget will seek to address some of the challenges confronting the economy, especially the rural distress and the need for generating quality jobs. Sitharaman took a briefing from senior officials in the Ministry after assuming charge on Friday.