Of quarantines, basements and the Budget

Every year in mid-February, a motley group comprising top officials of the finance ministry, experts, printing press technicians and stenographers pack their bags and head off to North Block, the British building designed by architect Herbert Baker.

Over the next 10 to 15 days, they are confined inside the walls of this imposing building that adjoins Rashtrapati Bhavan, the presidential residence and former viceregal palace, penning and printing India's Annual Financial Statement, which the layman calls the Budget.

This is the penultimate stage of a process that starts nearly six months before with the issue of the Budget circular by the Department of Economic Affairs in September.

This document asks all central and state government departments to prepare the revised estimates of expenditure for the current fiscal and the Budget estimates for the next one.

The department then begins pre-Budget meetings with various ministries. At the same time, talks are held with industry groups like the CII and Ficci, leading economists, labour unions, farmers and NGOs.

The finance ministry then starts to assess the consultations with various ministries and interest groups. During the talks, the finance ministry tells the departments the maximum amount they can spend under various heads.

By the end of November, the departments submit their proposed expenditure plans for the next fiscal. This is known as the final Statement of Budget Estimates.

By this time, the finance minister has a fair idea of revenue receipts and expenditure.

Subsequently, the finance minister, in consultations with his top officials, finalises the tax proposals, and takes into account the mandates of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act. This is a crucial phase in the Budget-making process and the prime minister is often consulted to iron out issues.

The Budget documents, 13 of them, are printed in the basement of North Block under a multi-tier security system. Once the printing starts, usually in mid-February, everyone associated with the process is quarantined inside North Block and have to live in spartan conditions.

On the midnight of the day before the Budget, the Press Information Bureau officials join their counterparts at North Block and start preparing press releases, which are released only after the Budget has been tabled in the Lok Sabha.

On the day of the Budget, the finance minister presents the Budget documents to the Union Cabinet, which approves it.

It is only after the finance minister tables the Budget that the officials quarantined inside North Block head off home. Many of them return the following year to be part of the same process.