edited by: Namit Singh Sengar
Last Update: January 29, 2023, 15:01 IST
FM Nirmala Sitharaman before Budget 2022.
Budget 2023: Not just the date, in 2017 the separate Railway Budget was merged with the Union Budget.
Union Budget 2023-24: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Budget 2023 on 1 February. The final process has already started. pudding ceremony On 26 January.
However, why is February 1 fixed as the date for presenting the budget in Parliament?
Independent’s first budget India It was introduced by the then Finance Minister RK Shanmukham Chetty on November 26, 1947. From the last second month of the year to the second month of the calendar year, let’s take a look at the journey of the current budget, which will be presented before the parliamentarians on February 1, 2023.
Budget 2023: history
Until 1999, the Union Budget was presented at 5 pm on the last working day of February, as per the colonial-era practice.
This practice had existed since the British era, and was followed due to the time difference between New Delhi and Westminster, United Kingdom.
Indian time (GMT +05:30) is 4.5 hours ahead of British Summer Time.
However, in 1999, the then Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha changed the time of budget presentation to 11 am. However, the day was kept the same.
Read also: Shortest, longest, most iconic: Interesting facts about budget speeches over the years
Reportedly, the idea behind this was that the change in timing would enable better analysis of numbers and announcements and lead to more informed debate and discussion.
Why was February 1 chosen as Budget Day?
In a departure from the colonial-era tradition of using the last working day of February, former Finance Minister Late Arun Jaitley started presenting the Union Budget from 1 February 2017. Since then it is offered on the first day of the month.
Also, in 2017, the separate Railway Budget was merged with the Union Budget. A separate budget for Railways was being presented separately for 92 years before 2017.
Jaitley said in 2016 that when the government was considering changing the budget date, moving the general budget would help improve public spending and implement tax proposals from the start of the financial year on April 1.
“You pass the Budget and Finance Bill sometime in May. You start implementing taxation policies from June… You release funds for various projects. In June, the monsoon sets in and the spending begins after the monsoon finally ends in October. So, you wasted half a year,” the news agency PTI Quoting Jaitley.
Moreover, from 2021-22 the Union Budget has been given in paperless form. A Union Budget Mobile App is also available for hassle-free access to the document.
Budget 2023: Where to watch live streaming of Union Budget
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