Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman huddled with representatives from capital markets, startups and the manufacturing sector separately on Tuesday as part of her customary pre-budget consultations and received suggestions to lower the securities transaction tax (STT), deepen the bond market and raise support for startups, among others, said people privy to the discussions.Capital markets representatives called for more credible steps to expand the corporate bond market, which is a must for realising the goal of turning India into a developed nation by 2047.The corporate bond market accounts for just about 23% of the country's $2.8-trillion bond market. Securities of the central and state governments currently dominate the bond market.As for the STT, a 0.1% of the tax is levied on the trans

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