Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for innovative approaches in areas like skill development and tourism to harness the untapped potential. The Prime Minister said this in an interactive session with economists and other experts in New Delhi this evening. The session was organized by NITI Aayog on the theme Economic Policy and the Road Ahead.<br/><br/>In his intervention, Mr Modi said, the government has advanced the budget presentation schedule as the budget cycle has an effect on the real economy.He said in the existing budget calendar, the authorization of expenditure comes with the onset of the monsoon which results in government programmes being relatively inactive in the productive pre-monsoon months. The Prime Minister said, the advancement of budget presentation will help authorization of expenditure by the time the new financial year begins.<br/><br/>During the session, the participants shared their views on various economic themes including agriculture, skill development and job creation, taxation and tariff related matters, education, digital technology, housing, tourism and future steps for growth.<br/><br/>Later talking to reporters after the meeting, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya said, the experts gave suggestions to double farmers' income and agriculture market reforms and shifting towards high value agri products. He said, digital payments for farmers was also discussed. He said, during the session,skill development and job creation and tourism were identified as priority areas. He said, suggestions also cropped up in the meeting for enhancing digital connectivity, simplification of tax structure and lowering tax rates.<br/><br/>AIR correspondent reports, the meeting was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Minister of State for Planning Rao Inderjit Singh and senior officers from the Union Government and NITI Aayog. It was also attended by economists and experts including Prof. Pravin Krishna, Prof Sukhpal Singh, Prof. Vijay Paul Sharma, Neelkanth Mishra, Surjit Bhalla, Dr. Pulak Ghosh, Dr. Govinda Rao, Madhav Chavan, Dr. N.K. Singh, Vivek Dehejia, Pramath Sinha, Sumit Bose, and T.N. Ninan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for innovative approaches in areas like skill development and tourism to harness the untapped potential. The Prime Minister said this in an interactive session with economists and other experts in New Delhi this evening. The session was organized by NITI Aayog on the theme Economic Policy and the Road Ahead. <br/><br/>In his intervention, Mr Modi said, the government has advanced the budget presentation schedule as the budget cycle has an effect on the real economy.He said in the existing budget calendar, the authorization of expenditure comes with the onset of the monsoon which results in government programmes being relatively inactive in the productive pre-monsoon months. The Prime Minister said, the advancement of budget presentation will help authorization of expenditure by the time the new financial year begins. <br/> <br/>During the session, the participants shared their views on various economic themes including agriculture, skill development and job creation, taxation and tariff related matters, education, digital technology, housing, tourism and future steps for growth. <br/> <br/>Later talking to reporters after the meeting, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya said, the experts gave suggestions to double farmers' income and agriculture market reforms and shifting towards high value agri products. He said, digital payments for farmers was also discussed. He said, during the session,skill development and job creation and tourism were identified as priority areas. He said, suggestions also cropped up in the meeting for enhancing digital connectivity, simplification of tax structure and lowering tax rates.<br/> <br/> AIR correspondent reports, the meeting was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Minister of State for Planning Rao Inderjit Singh and senior officers from the Union Government and NITI Aayog. It was also attended by economists and experts including Prof. Pravin Krishna, Prof Sukhpal Singh, Prof. Vijay Paul Sharma, Neelkanth Mishra, Surjit Bhalla, Dr. Pulak Ghosh, Dr. Govinda Rao, Madhav Chavan, Dr. N.K. Singh, Vivek Dehejia, Pramath Sinha, Sumit Bose, and T.N. Ninan.