The annual financial statement of the Indian government, known as the Union Budget , is a significant declaration of anticipated receipts and outlays for the fiscal year, spanning from April 1 to March 31. As mandated by Article 112 of the Indian Constitution, the government unveils the Union Budget every year on February 1. In election years, an interim budget is presented, as is the case this time.
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What kinds of union budgets are there?
In the lead-up to the budget presentation, the government’s finances are categorized into two sections: the revenue budget and the capital budget. The revenue budget details the government’s income and expenditures, while the capital budget encompasses items impacting the government’s assets and obligations.
How is the budget put together?
The budgetary process begins six months before the presentation date, around August or September. The Union Finance Minister, assisted by bureaucrats and advisors, undertakes the task of budget preparation. Additionally, experts and business leaders are invited to contribute ideas. The process involves four key stages: initial deficit estimation, spending and revenue projections, deficit reduction strategies, and finally, budget presentation and approval.
The budget presentation by Morarji Desai
On February 1, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present her sixth consecutive budget, matching the record set by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai. Sitharaman, who assumed the finance portfolio after the 2019 general elections, is the first full-time female finance minister in the nation’s history. She is poised to surpass the five-budget record held by her predecessors—Manmohan Singh, Arun Jaitley, Chidambaram, and Yashwant Sinha—when she presented the interim budget in July 2019.
Looking back, Morarji Desai, as the finance minister, presented five yearly budgets and one interim budget between 1959 and 1964, setting a record for the most budgets presented by a finance minister—ten in total.
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In 2019–20, Piyush Goyal unveiled the interim budget on February 1. Nirmala Sitharaman’s tenure has already made history, following in the footsteps of Indira Gandhi, who was the first female budget presenter for the fiscal year 1970–71.