Finance Minister, Shri Pranab Mukherjee held his first meeting with the senior officers of the Finance Ministry in his Chamber in North Block, here today. Minister of State for Finance, Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal was also present. He interacted with the Secretaries of different departments, Chief Economic Advisor, senior officers of Central Board of Excise and Customs and Central Board of Direct Taxes and was briefed on various issues including preparations on the Interim General Budget.
Later speaking to media persons, Shri Mukherjee said that his first priority is to get the Vote-on-Account passed in the ensuing session of Parliament. He said that the preparations for the Vote-on-Account are going smoothly.
Shri Mukherjee said that though there is a slowdown, the Indian economy is likely to grow at 7%. The Finance Minister further added that the economy would bounce back as the fundamentals of the Indian economy are strong. He said that we are closely monitoring the impact of various measures in the packages announced recently to stimulate Indian economy.