Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the tenth pre-budget consultation with industry leaders and experts representing the energy and infrastructure sectors in connection with the forthcoming Union Budget 2026-27 here today, the finance ministry said in a post on social media platform X.

The meeting was attended by Pankaj Agarwal, secretary, Ministry of Power; Vijay Kumar, secretary, Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways; V Umashankar, secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways; Satish Kumar, chairman of the Railway Board; and V Anantha Nageswaran, chief economic advisor, Government of India.

Who were the industry leaders present at the consultation?

Industry leaders who attended the meeting included Karan Adani, managing director (MD), Adani Ports & SEZs; N Venu, MD and CEO, India & South Asia, Hitachi Energy; Vineet Mittal, chairman, Avaada Group; Deepak Shetty, chairman, JCB; Sandeep Zanzaria, MD, GE Vernova T&D India; S Paramasivan, MD, Afcons; Manish Tripathi, director, Shapoorji Pallonji Infrastructure Capital; and K Narayanarao, deputy MD, GMR Group.
Other key industry leaders present were Sandeep Wadhwa, group director, J M Baxi; S Ramkumar, CEO – Railways, L&T; Mangal Dev, head of Railway Systems Business, Hitachi; Pradip Kheruka, chairman, Borosil Renewables; Dinesh Patidar, CMD, Shakti Pumps; Masood Mallick, MD and CEO, RE Sustainability Ltd; Shekhar Patel, president, CREDAI; T R Rao, director, infrastructure, PNC Infratech; D Krishnan, MD, Volvo Construction Equipment; Jagan Shah, CEO, Infravision Foundation; and S Pulipaka, CEO, National Solar Energy Federation.
What other stakeholder meetings have taken place?

Finance minister Sitharaman had on Thursday held a similar pre-budget consultation meeting with the representatives of trade unions, labour organisations and the tourism and hospitality sector.

What recommendations has industry placed before the government?

Industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) had recently submitted its recommendations for the Union Budget 2026-27 in a meeting with revenue secretary Arvind Srivastava. It requested making the tax mechanism “dispute preventive” and not “dispute driven”. CII has also proposed the creation of an India Development and Strategic Fund (IDSF), as a sovereign-backed, professionally managed institution to finance India’s long-term growth, resilience and global economic security.