Union Budget

The Union Budget of India, also referred to as the Annual financial statement in the Article 112 of the Constitution of India, is the annual budget of the Republic of India. The Government presents it on the first day of February so that it could be materialized before the commencement of new financial year in April. Till 2016 it was presented on the last working day of February by the Finance Minister of India in Parliament. The budget, which is presented by means of the Finance bill and the Appropriation bill has to be passed by both the Houses before it can come into effect from April 1, the start of India's financial year.

An Interim Budget is not the same as a 'Vote on Account'. While a 'Vote on Account' deals only with the expenditure side of the government's budget, an Interim Budget is a complete set of accounts, including both expenditure and receipts. An Interim Budget gives the complete financial statement, very similar to a full Budget. While the law does not debar the Union government from introducing tax changes, normally during an election year, successive governments have avoided making any major changes in income tax laws during an Interim Budget.

The first Union budget of independent India was presented by R. K. Shanmukham Chetty on November 26, 1947.

The Union budgets for the fiscal years 1959-61 to 1963-64, inclusive of the interim budget for 1962-63, were presented by Morarji Desai.On February 29 in 1964 and 1968, he became the only finance minister to present the Union budget on his birthday. Desai presented budgets that included five annual budgets and an interim budget during his first stint and three final budgets and one interim budget in his second tenure when he was both the Finance Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister of India.

After Desai's resignation, Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, took over the Ministry of Finance to become the only woman to hold the post of the Finance Minister.

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