Budget 2024: What has been the trend for interim budgets in last 2 decades

Budget 2024: Nirmala Sitharaman, at an event in early December, had said that there wouldn't be any "spectacular" announcements in the February 1 interim Budget as the country is in election mode

Budget 2024 updates: Nirmala Sithraman is going to present her sixth consecutive Budget on Thursday, becoming the only second Finance Minister in the country's history to have done so. She will equal the record of former Prime Minister Morarji Ranchhodji Desai.

While this makes an impressive feat for Sitharaman, her budget speech may not be as impressive, given that this one will be an interim budget due to the impending Lok Sabha elections.

Follow the full coverage of Budget 2024 here.

No spectacular announcements, says Sitharaman

Sitharaman, at an event in early December, had said that there wouldn't be any "spectacular" announcements in the February 1 interim Budget as the country is in election mode.

An interim budget is a 'vote-on-account' budget, a sort of temporary authorisation passed to allow the government to meet the immediate expenditure till a new government is formed. A full budget is only expected around July when the new government takes charge.

Read Also: Click here for all updates on Budget 2024

Have there been big announcements in the past interim budget?

Though traditionally, the governments have refrained from making any "big" announcements during an interim Budget, it has not been the absolute norm due to the influence of Lok Sabha elections.

2004 interim budget

The first time a government broke away from this tradition was during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government's 2004 interim budget. In 2004, the then Finance Minister Jaswant Singh announced measures such as the extension of 'Antyodaya Yojana Scheme', the merger of 50 per cent dearness allowance for the central government employees with basic pay, reduced customs duty on free baggage at international airports from 50 per cent to 40 per cent among other things.

However, the National Democratic Alliance did not win the following Lok Sabha elections.

2009 interim budget

Then the United Progressive Alliance came to power and former Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee also deviated from the tradition in the 2009 interim budget. He extended the earlier reduction in central excise duty rates, reduced the service tax rates to 10 per cent from the earlier 12 per cent.

2014 interim budget

In the next interim budget in 2014, the then FM P Chidambaram also announced excise duty cuts for the automobile industry, transferring a sum of Rs 500 crore to Defence Pension Account, among other measures.

2019 interim budget

In the 2019 interim budget, the then FM Piyush Goyal introduced the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), created a separate Department of Fisheries, and announced a social security coverage scheme for the informal job sector.

2024 interim budget

Notably, this year's budget is likely to bet on PM Narendra Modi's popularity over populist measures as the government is aiming to reduce the fiscal deficit to 4.50 per cent of GDP by the conclusion of the financial year 2025-26, according to the experts. The government is likely to keep its major subsidies in check while being heavy on political messaging, pushing the Modi government's narrative of inclusive growth, according to a Reuters poll of economists.

In this pre-election budget, the emphasis is likely to shift towards infrastructure investment, aiming to sustain economic momentum rather than reducing the budget deficit.

(With agency inputs)