The Finance Ministry has sought different ministries to send information related to their departments for finance minister Arun Jaitley’s Union Budget speech by November 30, 2018. The budget which would be presented on February 1, 2019 will be the last budget of the current BJP-led NDA government before the next general polls.
Last month, the ministry of finance began the budgetary exercise for 2019-20. During the process, meetings were being held with steel, power, and housing and urban development ministries, among others, to finalize revised expenditure for the current fiscal and projections for the coming fiscal year.
In view of the upcoming general elections, the Indian government is likely to come out with an interim budget, also referred to as vote-on-account. As per the practice, a vote-on-account or approval for essential government spending for a limited period is taken in an election year and a full-fledged budget is presented by the new government.