The consultations by the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for the pre- budget suggestions will be starting from the first week of January. The FM will first be meeting the top agriculturalists on Jan 7 following it with a meeting among the top industrialists on Jan 11, on Jan 12 and Jan 13 he will be meeting the trade unions and Non-government organizations respectively.

The FM has busy start to the year as he will continue to meet one group or the other till January 21st for consultations for Union Budget 2011-12.

On January 17 and January 18 he will be meeting a group of economists and financial institutions respectively for attending their wish list as well and January 19 an all important meeting with the state finance ministers will be held to look into their requirements after which he would be meeting the regulator before the round concludes.

In December the revenue secretary Sunil Mitra has already had a round with different industry sectors and has taken their point of view.

The Budgetary matters are of a top secret in India as the indirect tax to be implied if known in advance will lead to hoarding.