Early passage of Finance Bill "historic": Speaker

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan today described as "a historic occasion" the early passage of the Finance Bill, saying it would help the government allocate funds to various ministries and states at the beginning of the new fiscal.
As soon as the House met for the day, she thanked all members for working towards the early passage of the bill.
She also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for envisaging the idea to pass the bill before April 1.
Modi was present in the House when she made the remarks.
She said earlier, a five-month delay had become part of the procedure.

With the passage of the Finance Bill, the Lok Sabha on March 22 completed the entire budgetary exercise for 2017-18. It was later passed the Rajya Sabha with some amendments which were rejected later by the Lower House.