Nirmala Sitharaman Meets Former PM Manmohan Singh Ahead of Budget

The FM may have discussed what needs to be done to bring the economy back on the growth path, according to sources.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his residence.

(Photo: PTI/Altered by The Quint)

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday, 27 June, met former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his residence ahead of presenting her maiden Budget on 5 July.

Singh, who is known as the architect of economic reforms, was also the Finance Minister of the country from 1991 to 1996 in the then Narasimha Rao government.

There was no official statement on the meeting that is seen as a “courtesy call”.

What transpired at the meeting is not known, but coming ahead of the first Union Budget of the new government to be presented by Sitharaman on 5 July, it understood to have centred around the economy.

Sources said, though a courtesy meeting, the Finance Minister may have discussed what needs to be done to bring the economy back on the growth path.

Singh was also the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 1982 to 1985, and the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of India – now called Niti Aayog from 1985 to 1987.

On 5 July, the BJP-led NDA government will unveil the Union Budget for the financial year ending March 2020. On 1 February, Piyush Goyal had presented the interim Budget.

It is for the first time in nearly thirty years that Singh will not be in the Parliament during the Budget Session after his tenure of nearly three decades as a Rajya Sabha member ended earlier this month.

The Indian economy is going through a tough period with growth at a five-year low at 6.8 percent, and low consumption.