Finmin expects Budget to be presented on Feb 1

Finance Ministry is gearing up to present the Budget for next fiscal around February 1, advancing the scheduled date by a month so as to complete the entire process by March 31, and preparations for it are "very much under control", says a top official.
"There are three major changes that we are undertaking for the next year (Budget). First presentation of Budget is advanced by about a month. We expect Budget to be presented around February 1," Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said in an interview to DD News.
Besides, doing away with the plan and non-plan expenditure and replacing it with the new classification would be revenue and expenditure, he said, adding that the third is merger of Railway Budget with the General Budget.

The pre-Budget meetings for the current year's for revised expenditure estimates as well as for the next Budget's estimates have already started, he said.
"Revenue Department has also started the pre-budget consultations with the various stakeholders and Finance Minister's consultation with major stakeholders are also planned to be held in advance," Das said.
"So, all the preparation has been roughly advanced by about a month. Preparations are very much under control and we will be able to present the Budget around February 1," he said.

The idea, he added, is to get the Budget passed by Parliament along with Appropriation Bill and the Finance Bill by the end of March as this would ensure implementation of the Budget proposals from April 1.

On fiscal deficit hitting 20-year high of 83.9 per cent of the Budget estimate, Das said, typically it looks very high in the first half of the year because revenues start coming in the second half of the year.
"Expenditures are evenly paced all through the year. So there is a mismatch between revenues and expenditure in the first. As we proceed in the second half revenue starts coming in and expenditure gets evened out. Therefore, fiscal deficit target of 3.5 per cent for the current fiscal will be met," he said.
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Speaking at the seminar, Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa said the government has already implemented 54 per cent of the recommendations of the Expenditure Management Commission.

"There are many more which are in the process of being addressed," he said. "We are in the process of revising our General Financial Rules (GFR). These are the rules by which all government expenditure is controlled and regulated."
GFR is a compendium of general provisions to be followed by all offices of the central government while dealing with matters of financial nature.
These were first issued in 1947 and last amended in 2010. However, it is felt that many of the rules have become redundant in view of rapid growth of alternative service delivery systems, developments in information technology, outsourcing of services and liberalisation of the system of procurement.

He said it was sometimes felt by the private sector that these rules have been constraining the freedom of decision making.
"So, we are in the process of amending the GFR and before March 31. It is our endeavour to produce a revamped document which recognises the modern ways of management," he said.
Lavasa also said there will be efforts to increase the number of goods and services which can be procured through e- marketplace.
On centrally sponsored schemes (CSS), he said the CSS were reviewed and their number has been brought down to 28.
"Similarly, central sector schemes have been rationalised and the exercise is not completed. We will continue to rationalise these schemes. The objective being that the government should focus on doing a few critical things and utilise resources to derive benefit of people," he added.