Union Budget enters its last mile run

Internet connections in the offices of senior officers and staff involved in the process are shut-down to maintain secrecy

With just a week to go, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's third Budget has entered the last mile run cloaked in secrecy and apart from his statement that it will not be populist and would address the problem of under-investment in the economy, very little is known about it.

Though the customary secrecy has enveloped parts of the North Block, this year is the first when secretaries in the Finance Ministry have taken to YouTube to communicate the direction of the Union Budget 2016-17.

Making use of its own YouTube channel, the ministry also showcased the importance of budget and traditions like finance minister carrying his Budget in a leather briefcase.

Usually teeming with journalists, the wing of North Block is strictly off limits to them and general public since beginning January.

With special X-ray scan, everything that goes in or out of North Block is being monitored. Also powerful mobile phone jammers block calls to prevent leakage of any information.

Internet connections in the offices of senior officers and staff involved in the process are shut-down and the Budget wing of North Block is no less than a war room.

Highest level of security measures are enforced at North Block till the Budget is presented in Lok Sabha. The Intelligence Bureau (IB), Delhi Police and CISF are all involved in security of this zone.

The final lap began on Friday with the traditional halwa ceremony, which marked the commencement of the printing process of documents of Union Budget 2016-17.

The ceremony does not involve any puja or worship. Jaitley and officials associated with the preparation of the Budget and its printing gathered at the printing press situated in the basement of the North Block, exchanged wishes and distributed halwa — the dessert made of semolina and sugar, marking the beginning of Budget printing.

And so has begun the countdown to budget day — Parliament's most important calendar event. Budget is usually presented on the last day of February and this year it will be on Monday, February 29, few weeks before states like West Bengal, Kerala and Assam go to polls.

The most guarded of all documents is a "blue jacket" — it is called so because it contains key numbers for the budget, which are constantly updated, and forms the bedrock of the calculations that drive the entire economic planning process for the fiscal.

A senior ministry mandarin, joint secretary (budget) is in-charge of it and he cannot let anyone, not even the Finance Minister, carry it out of the North Block. And during the entire budget-making process, it is only a handful of the ministry brass who get to see this document.

Work on the budget typically starts in September on estimates of expenditure and receipts for the ensuing financial year for various ministries.

During this stage, the revenue-earning ministries of the Union government provide the estimates for their revenue receipts in the current fiscal year (revised estimates) and next fiscal year (Budget estimates). These are matched with projected expenditure for social sectors as well as flagship schemes of the government.

Inputs on measures, including tax and allocations, needed for different sectors and industries are received.

Ceilings on expenditure for most ministries are fixed by the third week of December. By then, an assessment of revenue and market borrowings is also made and the first draft of the Budget sees the light.

By the first week of January, estimates of tax revenue come in and by the end of the month, estimates of major subsidies and defense expenditure are finalised. Discussions on taxes — corporate, sector-specific and personal - start in January and the proposals are completed at the 11th hour.

Finance Ministry's budget speech is finalised only hours before the D-Day.

This time around, the stakes are especially high, as Jaitley is tasked with kick-start growth and address the problem of under-investment while at the same time reining in fiscal and deficit.

With limited resources, he faces the tough task of keeping his party's vocal vote-base in middle-class happy as well as address structural issues facing sectors like agriculture and infrastructure.