Budget session begins; Economic Survey to be tabled today

With the budget session commencing from today, the Economic survey will be tabled in both the houses of Parliament. 

Ahead of the session, markets opened on a positive note, with Sensex gaining more than 290 points. 

At around 0948 hours, Sensex was trading at 36,337.80 higher by 287.36 points or 0.81%, while Nifty 50 surged nearly 75 points or 0.67% and was trading at 11,144.20. 

It may be noted that on February 1, the Modi government will be presenting the General Budget, and there will be two sessions for discussing the country’s economic status. 

The first session will be held from January 29 to February 9, while the second one will take part from March 5 and will continue till April 6, 2018. 

Ananth Kumar, Union Minister of Parliamentary Affair, said, “The Budget session is very important, and under this the committees’ discussion and views comes as an key factor. The government looks into the matter very seriously.”

In Parliament on Monday, it is expected that as many as 28 bills will be tabled in Lok Sabha, while a total of 39 bills will be presented in the upper house Rajya Sabha for the upcoming session.

The Finance Ministry every year presents the economic survey - which takes into consideration India’s economic condition in the last 12 months. 

However, last year in August month, the ministry announced a mid-term economic survey for the first time. 

Currently, economic condition is such that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate is at 6.3% in September 2017 quarter higher from 5.7% of the June 2017 quarter. 

The Central Statistics office (CSO) in the first advance estimate of GDP for FY18 expects the growth rate to be at 6.5%, while many analysts have projected the rate to range between 6.7% - 7% for the fiscal. 

On the other hand, inflation indicators have shown opposite trend, with Wholesale Price Index easing at 3.58% in December 2017, and Consumer Price Index (CPI) reaching at 17-month high of 5.21% in the same month. 

Index of Industrial Production (IIP)  has shown commendable growth by clocking a whopping 8.4% in November 2017, indicating that factory output might be reviving from the government's Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Demonetisation impact.

This would also be the first budget session for Goods and Services Tax (GST) which saw collection of up to Rs 86,703 crore in December, compared to Rs 80,808 crore in November and Rs 83,346 crore in October month. 

Among many bills that are likely to tabled in Parliamenti nclude the Muslim Women's (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017, the Codes of Wages Bill, 2017, and Rights of Children to Free and Compulsory Education, 2017.

Moreover, there are few other important bills that are pending namely -  Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016 and the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016-- can also be taken for discussion.