FM Nirmala Sitharaman to present Modi 2.0 Cabinet's maiden Union Budget on July 5

Nirmala Sitharaman, the newly appointed Finance Minister of India, will present the maiden Union Budget of the Modi 2.0 Cabinet on July 5, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Friday. The announcement comes hours after the former defence minister broke the glass ceiling again as she became the first full-time woman Finance Minister of India, breaching a largely male bastion. The Budget Session of Parliament is scheduled to be held between June 17 and July 26, 2019.

"Union Budget will be presented on July 5," Javadekar told media, adding that the Cabinet has cleared pension scheme to benefit three crore retail traders and shopkeepers.

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar: Union Budget will be presented on July 5 https://t.co/48QsaRt478

— ANI (@ANI) May 31, 2019

Addresing a press conference following the first Union Cabinet meeting of the new Narendra Modi government, Javadekar further said, "Cabinet has cleared a special scheme for Control of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis. The diseases of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis are very common among the livestock - cow-bulls, buffaloes, sheep, goats, pigs".

"President Ram Nath Kovind will address the joint session of parliament on 20th June. Economic Survey will be released on 4th of July," Javadekar added.

However, Sitharaman, the first woman in 48 years since then prime minister Indira Gandhi to hold charge of the key ministry, will face major challenges in her first Budget Session, as the new budget for the current financial year should look to take out the country from slowing growth, create jobs, attract investments and tackle banking sector woes.

In what could be another big blow for the new finance minister, her first day in office was greeted by GDP growth rate slowing down to five-year low of 5.8 per cent in January-March quarter, slower than even China, and unemployment rate rising to 45 year high of 6.1 per cent in 2017-18.

The interim budget for the year 2019-20 was presented by then Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on February 1. Goyal was assigned with temporary additional charge of the finance and corporate affairs ministries, with then finance minister Arun Jaitley went to the United States for a medical check-up.