This year, an interim budget will be introduced by the cabinet on February 1.
Union Budget 2024: Less than a month remains before the Narendra Modi government will present its 10th budget (interim) on February 1, even as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made it clear in December that there would be no “spectacular announcements”.
This is likely to follow the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in April-May, after which the newly elected central government will present the comprehensive Union Budget for the next financial year (FY25).
As the name suggests, an interim budget is presented when elections are around the corner, to help the incumbent government control expenditure until the elections.
Why is the Union Budget being presented on February 1?
However, the government did not always present the budget on February 1. Previously, the Indian Union Budget was presented at the end of February. In fact, until 1999 it was presented on the last working day of February at 5:00 PM, later shifted to 11:00 AM. It was only in the year 2017 that it was decided to introduce the first post-GST (Goods and Services Tax) budget on February 1, abandoning the colonial-era tradition. The then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley introduced this budget.
The preparation of the budget will allow the timely distribution of funds among the different ministries so that the proposals will come into effect from the beginning of the new budget year, which starts in April. The government says the streamlining of the budget process has been done to increase efficiency and achieve better use of funds.
Previously, when the budget was presented in late February, a three-phase approval process by Parliament was completed sometime in mid-May. This would result in government departments being able to spend the allocated money on various projects only from the end of August or September after the end of the monsoon season.
India's first ever budget
As a side note, India's very first budget was introduced on April 7, 1860 by Scottish economist and politician James Wilson of the East India Company, who presented it to the British Crown. Meanwhile, on November 26, 1947, the first budget of independent India was presented by the then Finance Minister RK Shanmukham Chetty.
(With PTI inputs)
First print: January 2, 2024 | 4:17 PM IST