Budget – Fun facts about Financial document

 With every budget comes expectations and hope. Hope for better tomorrow and prosperous future.

Budget is a document for future but it has a interesting past too ,so let go through some interesting facts about budget.

1. The first Indian budget was presented by James Wilson on 18th February 1869 , however first budget for independent India was presented by R.K. Shanmukham chetty on 26th November 1947.

2. Budget was published only english language untill 1955. After that it was decided to print budget both in English and Hindi.

3. Morarji Desai has presented 10 budgets as his tenure as finance minister from 1962-1969 , this is the most number of budgets presented by any finance minister.

4. Indra Gandhi took over as finance minister after the resignation of Morarji  Desai and went on become first women to present the Indian Budget.

5. Finance act 1973 introduced highest income tax rate of 97.75%

6. Untill  February 2000 the budget used to be presented at 5 p.m. .It was a British legacy and it was done to accommodate time difference between India and Britian. In the 2001 this was changed and Budget now is presented at 11.00 a.m.

7. Finance and rail budget were merged in 2017 uptill then a separate budget for railways was presented before the financial budget.

8.The starting point of the Union budget is a blue sheet of paper with key numbers, considered the blueprint of the budget. The blue sheet is top secret and is in the sole custody of the joint secretary (budget).

9. The duration of 160 minutes of Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget speech in 2020 is considered the longest in independent India.

10.There is an Indian tradition of eating something sweet before the start of good work. This tradition is also followed in case of budget presentations. 10 days before the budget is tabled, there is a ‘Halwa’ ceremony held in the ministry of finance. A ‘Halwa’ is prepared and then served at the venue where the budget is printed. The ceremony marks the printing of the budget and is celebrated by Government officials involved in making the budget. This practice has not been followed for Finance Act 2022.

11. The printing of the budget documents was initially done at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. But after some of the documents were leaked in 1950, the government shifted the printing to a press at Minto Road, New Delhi. In 1980, the printing was moved to a government press in North Block.

12.In 2019, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman carried a ‘bahi khata’ (ledger) with the National Emblem printed on it to Parliament, in a departure from the standard practice of carrying a briefcase. Incidentally, the word Budget comes from French bougette, which means leather briefcase.