The budget will be presented on February 1 by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Sitharaman and her team are developing new policies to boost fiscal growth while avoiding a fiscal deficit.

This year, as India deals with the pandemic, a significant allocation for the health sector is expected. The budget is heavily reliant on Nirmala Sitharaman and her A-team. The Sitharaman team, comprised of five high-profile executives (TV Somnatham, Tarun Bajaj, Debashish Panda, Ajay Seth, and Tuhin Kanta Pandey), is critical in determining how funds are allocated to various sectors during each fiscal year. Let us learn more about Sitharaman's team.

1987 IAS officer TV Somanathan

In 2015, a 1987 IAS officer from the Tamil Nadu cadre served as Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office. He was appointed as the Finance Secretary, making him the team's senior-most officer. It will be interesting to see how Somanathan calculates capital expenditure in this fiscal year following the Union Budget 2022.

AS batch officer in 1987, Debashish Panda

As the head of the Department of Financial Services, Debashish Panda, an IAS batch officer in 1987, has been instrumental in reviving public sector offices.

Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth

Before becoming Economic Affairs Secretary in April 2021, Ajay Seth was the Managing Director of Bangalore Metro. He is in charge of writing all of Sitharaman's budget speeches. His department is also in charge of the capital market, investment, and infrastructure policies. These are expected to spend large sums of money on large projects in order to generate revenue and create jobs.

Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management

While the government was unable to meet its disinvestment targets this year, Tuhin Kanta Pandey was instrumental in the disinvestment of Air India. Following the 2022 budget, there will be many more projects this year, with the LIC IPO being a major disinvestment target.

Treasury Secretary Tarun Bajaj

Treasury Secretary in the Finance Ministry, Tarun Bajaj also works in the Finance Ministry to ensure realistic tax targets, and he expects to be on top of tax collections this year. During the pandemic, Bajaj was instrumental in facilitating health-care packages. The Budget is expected to announce packages in 2022 to help companies and sectors affected by the pandemic with tax compliance.

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