Arun Jaitley's next Budget may not just be a pre-election exercise

Instead it may well have a lot for economists and analysts to mull over.

The Union Budget for 2017-18, which Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented on February 1, had introduced three new features. One, it advanced the presentation of the Budget by about a month. Two, it abolished the distinction between Plan expenditure and Non-Plan expenditure. And three it subsumed the Railway Budget, obviating the need for the railway minister to deliver a separate speech.

No Budget in recent years has introduced as many innovations in a single year’s annual financial statement as Mr Jaitley has done. But what has been the outcome of these three initiatives?

The latest expenditure figures for the current