The interim Union Budget 2024 for the upcoming fiscal year will be presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1. This budget will remain a placeholder until the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections are announced, with no significant announcements made.
A few years ago, the budget was presented every year at the end of February, usually during the last week. The Union Budget presentation has been held on February 1 for several years.
When former finance minister Arun Jaitley presented the budget on February 1st, 2017, this tradition was changed. Presenting the budget on February 1st has been a tradition ever since. It was also agreed at that time that there would not be a separate budget for Railways.
However, have you ever questioned why the budget date had to be altered? The budget date has been changed for a specific purpose. Before the budget’s presentation on February’s last day, it was challenging to put its provisions into effect for the upcoming fiscal year, which starts on April 1.
The main reason for changing the budget presentation from the last day of the month to February 1 was to discontinue a tradition that dates back to the British colonial era. However, this was not the only reason for the date change.
Arun Jaitley pointed out that the government had very little time to get ready for the new policies and reforms starting on April 1 due to the budget being presented at the end of February. The presentation was therefore shifted to February 1.
In addition, as was done under British rule, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley ended the practice of presenting a separate budget for railways. The Union Budget and the Railways Budget would be combined, as the FM had previously announced.
Not just that, till 1999, the budget used to be presented at 5 pm. But the then NDA government changed the timing of the budget to 11 am. This tradition has been going on since the British period.
During British India, the budget was presented in Britain at 11 am (local time) which was at 5 pm in India. This tradition did not change even after independence.
But while presenting the budget for 1999-2000, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha in the NDA government changed this tradition and presented it at 11 am on 27 February 1999. Since then the budget has been presented every year at 11 am.
Link to article –
Budget 2024: Why was Budget presentation date changed to February 1?
