Next year’s budget must address critical issues such as high inflation, creating jobs, stimulating demand and putting the economy on a sustainable growth path above 8 percent.

On Wednesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said inflation was no longer “in red letters” and the government’s priority was now to create jobs and boost growth.

“Some are of course marked with red letters (priorities), others may not be. Of course, in red letters would be jobs, a fair distribution of wealth and ensuring that India moves onto the growth path.

“In that sense, inflation is not written in red. I hope it doesn’t surprise many of you. We’ve shown over the last few months that we could bring it down to a manageable level,” she said.

It will be the fifth budget of the Modi 2.0 and Sitharaman government and the last full budget before the general elections scheduled for April-May 2024.

In the election year, the government introduces Vote on Account for a limited period. Normally the budget is cleared by July.

“Pre-budget meetings chaired by the Secretary (Expenditure) will begin October 10, 2022,” according to the Budget Circular (2023-24) of the Budget Department of the Ministry of Economy dated September 6, 2022.

“Financial advisers should ensure that the required information is properly entered in Schedules I to VII. Printed copies of the data along with the specified formats should be submitted for cross-checking,” the circular added.

Budget estimates for 2023-24 will be tentatively finalized following the conclusion of pre-budget meetings, it said, adding that RE (Revised Estimate) meetings will continue until around mid-November 2022.

“All ministries/departments should provide information on autonomous bodies/implementing bodies for which a separate corpus fund has been set up. The reasons for their continuation and the need for grant support and why these should not be resolved should be explained,” it said.

As a follow-up to the National Monetization Pipeline, departments could be asked to explain progress in monetizing assets.

The 2022-23 budget is expected to be tabled on 1 February during the first half of Parliament’s budget session, which normally begins in the last week of January each year.

The budget for the current fiscal year had forecast a real growth rate of around 7-7.5 percent, while the budget deficit was fixed at 6.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

The government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has abandoned a colonial-era tradition of presenting the budget at the end of February. The then finance minister, Arun Jaitley, presented the annual financial statements for the first time on February 1, 2017.

With the budget being brought forward, the ministries will now be allocated their budget funds from the beginning of the budget year at the beginning of April. This gives government departments more leeway to spend and gives companies time to adapt to business and tax plans.

Earlier, when the budget was presented in late February, Parliament’s three-stage approval process was completed some time in mid-May, weeks before the onset of the monsoon rains.

This meant government agencies would not start spending on projects until late August or September, after the end of the monsoon season.