After making some fundamental changes in budget procedures, the center has decided to present the annual budget before February 9th. Finance Ministry is aiming February 2nd as the date though Republic Day and few other engagements are expected to make it tough.
Usually, the three most important days with the budget session are the days of presentation of the Railway budget, Economic Survey and the General Budget. But this year, the Railway budget will be merged with the general budget.
Railway’s budgetary details will be added in four or five pages under the general budget.
The fiscal impact of adding the railways budget will be made minimal though the government will stop getting dividends from Railways because of the new procedures. Around 4000 to 5000 crore rupees’ net amount are given to the government by the railways annually.
Another change is the removal of plan and non-plan expenditure classification under the new budget. Allocation for various schemes and programmes will get a new look with the phasing out of the plan and non-plan classification.
