New Delhi, Nov 20 (IANS) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday held consultations here with representatives of trade unions and labour organisations as part of the groundwork in the run-up to the Union Budget 2026-27, which will be presented on February 1.

The meeting is part of the ministry’s annual stakeholder engagement process, where labour bodies present their concerns on wages, social security, employment generation, and worker welfare ahead of the Budget.

Similar pre-budget discussions have been held with representatives of other sectors as well in recent days, such as banking, hospitality, IT and startups, according to officials. Intensive discussions have also been held on pushing growth and creating more jobs and incomes in the agriculture, MSME and manufacturing sectors.

The session with labour unions was also attended by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, senior officials from the Department of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Labour and Employment, and the Chief Economic Adviser.

On Wednesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held pre-budget consultations with top leaders of the IT sector, as the industry is facing global uncertainties in the US, its largest market, due to visa restrictions and the increase in H-1B visa costs as part of Trump’s America First policy..

The discussions also centred around building computing capacities in India, to scaling up skilling initiatives with dramatic change that is sweeping across the IT sector due to the AI wave.

The meeting was attended by industry honchos, including Preeti Lobana, Vice President and Country Manager at Google India; Rajesh Varrie, President – Operations, Chairman and Managing Director of Cognizant India; Sindhu Gangadharan, Chairperson of industry body Nasscom, and Managing Director of SAP Labs India, among others.

The Finance Ministry’s consultations with CEOs of startups took place on Tuesday. Aman Gupta, co-founder of BoAt, said in a post on LinkedIn that he shared his thoughts on ESOP taxation reform and how simplifying it can unlock wealth creation at every level for team members and future builders.

“For the first time, startups were invited to this platform, and it truly felt like a big moment for the ecosystem. Grateful to represent our founder community,” he remarked.

–IANS

sps/dan