Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold a meeting with the finance minsters of states as part of the customary pre-budget consultations with various stake holders, media reports said.

The meeting will be held in Vigyan Bhawan on December 30, the reports added.

This will be a face-to-face meeting instead of a virtual one held earlier this month. Eight such meetings were held between December 15 and December 22, as per the finance ministry statement issued last week.

In these meetings, Sitharaman sought suggestions from labour unions, leading economists, industrialists, financial sectors players among others. More than 120 invitees representing seven stakeholder groups participated in the meetings.

During the meetings, suggestions were made about rationalisation of income tax slabs, infrastructure status for digital services and incentives to hydrogen storage.

The Budget 2022-23 is likely to be presented on February 1 during the first half of Parliament’s Budget session which usually starts in the last week of January every year.

The government has projected a fiscal deficit of 6.8 prcent of the gross domestic product (GDP).