Budget session likely to begin on Jan 31, Budget to be presented on Feb 1

In a first, govt has decided to present Budget on Feb 1 instead of the last day of the month

As part of a major overhaul of the budget process, the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) on Tuesday recommended advancing the holding of the Budget Session from January 31 followed by the presentation of the Union Budget on February 1.

Both the address of the President and tabling of the Economic Survey are likely to take place on January 31. The first phase of the Budget Session will run till February 9.

The CCPA, headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, met in the capital and made these recommendations to President Pranab Mukherjee. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi also attended the meeting.

Early presentation of the Budget would mean that the entire exercise is over by March 31 and expenditure as well as tax proposals will come into effect right from the beginning of the new financial year, thereby ensuring better implementation.

As per the earlier practice, the budgetary exercise was completed only by mid-May and with the monsoon arriving in June, most of the schemes and spendings by states did not take off until October, leaving just half-a-year for their implementation.

In September 2015, ending a nearly a century-long practice, the Cabinet had decided to scrap a separate budget for the railways and merge it with the General Budget, presentation of which was decided to be advanced to spur spending and boost the economy.

Earlier, the Budget approval process usually happened in two parts extending to the second or third week of May, hampering early implementation of schemes and spending programmes.