Nirmala Sitharaman's 9th Budget: Who's in her team this year?
What's the story
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is all set to present her ninth consecutive Union Budget. This time, she has formed a team of officials comprising both veterans and newcomers. Interestingly, for the first time in recent years, there will be no finance secretary leading the exercise. Instead, Economic Affairs Secretary Anuradha Thakur will coordinate the entire process.
Team composition
Key members of Sitharaman's budget team
Public Enterprises Secretary K Moses Chelai is the senior-most official in Sitharaman's budget team. However, his department doesn't have much direct impact on the budget process. Only four officials from last year's budget team remain this time around: CBDT Chairman Ravi Agrawal, DIPAM Secretary Arunish Chawla, Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju, and Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran.
Recent changes
New appointments in key positions
The three key secretaries for expenditure, revenue, and economic affairs took over their posts this summer. Vivek Chaturvedi was appointed Chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) in December. Meanwhile, Vyasan R, the Joint Secretary in-charge of the budget division, took charge a few months ago. Despite being new to his current assignment, Vyasan has prior experience with the budget process.
Veteran presence
Revenue secretary's experience in budget division
Revenue Secretary Arvind Shrivastava is another veteran on Sitharaman's team. He has headed the budget division for several years before moving to the Prime Minister's Office. There, he participated in discussions for the annual exercise, covering not just receipts as well as expenditure but also key policy and reform-related announcements.
Schedule
Upcoming budget session and presentation date
The date for the upcoming budget session and presentation is likely to be decided today. The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs will meet later in the day to finalize these details. A proposal to present the Budget on February 1 has been moved despite falling on a Sunday this year.