Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the seventh pre-budget consultation meeting with experts from Banking, financial services, and Insurance in New Delhi in connection with the upcoming Union Budget 2026-27. The Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, the Secretaries of the Department of Economic Affairs, the Chief Economic Adviser to the Central Government, and Senior officials of the Ministry attended the meeting.
Nirmala Sitharaman met with the stakeholders from the startup ecosystem and the capital markets. The Finance Ministry conducts several pre-budget consultation meetings annually with experts, industry leaders, economists and state officials. During the meeting, the discussion primarily focused on the expectations and concerns of market participants as the government continues to assemble input from different sectors before preparing the budget. Participants emphasised the requirement for a dedicated refinancing system for Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) to ensure stable liquidity support.Â
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Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (SARFESAI) representatives aimed for an allocation of about ₹1 lakh crore for NBFCs and recommended that the SARFESAI provisions be fully extended to them, on par with banks. Now, these rules apply only to loans of more than ₹20 lakh, which limits their effectiveness in asset recovery.
Moreover, NBFCs called for the removal of Tax Deducted at Source on repayments they receive, stating that this fee creates an unnecessary financial and operational burden.
