The Union Cabinet will soon be meeting to consider the proposal to advance the union budget on February 1 after the Election Commission (EC) gave its nod in light of upcoming Assembly elections in the five states. The central government wanted to present it earlier to ensure the passage of the finance bill in Parliament so that its proposals can be implemented from April 1. Currently, the Union Budget is presented on the last day of February.
While deciding to advance the budget presentation by a month, the government took the line that it should not be presented in the middle of Assembly poll in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur. So, it consulted the EC, which has concurred with the finance ministry's view that it is an annual financial statement and can come any time of the government's choice. The Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to meet on October 19 or October 20 to decide on the date for Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to present the budget for the financial year 2017-18.
The finance ministry had proposed that the Budget presentation be fixed for February 1 and the entire exercise is completed by March 24. It wanted the Budget Session of the Parliament to begin before January 25 and go in for a three-week break to February 10-15 before reconvening in between March 10-15 to complete the legislative exercise. Further, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had stated that the reason behind to advance the date was that they want the entire budgetary exercise to be over and the Finance Bill to be passed and implemented from April 1 onwards rather than June because then the monsoon sets in and effectively, the expenditures start in October.
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