Budget 2019: Key Things To Know Before February 1

Interim Budget 2019: Budget is tabled in Parliament by the finance minister.

The government is due to present the interim budget in Parliament on February 1. That will mark the last budget before the general election due by May this year. An interim budget, an annual financial statement of a government's finances, covers a smaller period of time, usually few months. Earlier this week, the finance ministry officials kicked off the printing process of Budget 2019 documents with a "halwa ceremony". The customary ceremony marks the beginning of the process of printing documents for the Budget.

Here are 10 things to know about Union Budget of India:

1. Union Budget is an annual report which contains the government's revenue and expenditure for a particular fiscal year, which runs from April 1 to March 31.
2. It consolidates revenues from all sources and outlays for all activities. 
3. Budget is prepared by the budget division in the Ministry of Finance after consulting with other ministries.
4. It is tabled in Parliament by the finance minister. 
5. The Budget comprises of Budget speech, annual financial statement, finance bill, demand for grants and macroeconomic framework. 
6. From economists to tax experts, all eyes remain on Budget announcements for any signs of changes in policy in the coming period. 
7. An interim budget is followed by another budget by the new government. The last interim budget was presented on February 17, 2014 by the then finance minister P Chidambaram. It was followed by a full-year budget on July 10, 2014.
8. Until the year 1999, the Union Budget was announced at 5 pm on the last working day of February. Former finance minister Yashwant Sinha changed the budget presentation ritual by announcing the 1999 Union Budget at 11 am.
9. Till 2016, the railway budget was presented a few days before the Union budget. However, in September 2016, the government scrapped the 92-year-old practice of presenting rail budgets and general budgets separately. Arun Jaitley became the first finance minister to present a combined Union Budget with Rail Budget in 2017. 
10. This year's Budget will also include announcements for the Railways.
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