Budget 2024: Why was the presentation time changed to 11 am from 5 pm?

Budget 2024 time: The Union Budget is presented at 11 am on February 1 every year but it was not the practice earlier. Here's why it was changed and when

Budget 2024: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will announce her sixth consecutive Budget on February 1. As India is set to witness the Lok Sabha elections later this year, it will be an interim Budget. A full-fledged Budget will be presented once the new cabinet is appointed.

The Budget is presented at 11 am on February 1 every year. However, this was not the case earlier when it was announced at 5 pm on the last working day of February. Let us understand when and why it was changed.

Budget 2024 time: Why will it be presented at 11 am?

The Budget was presented at 5 pm on the last working day of February since the colonial era. The time was chosen due to India’s time difference from the United Kingdom. India’s time is 5.5 hours ahead of the British Summertime, and the Budget at 5 pm (IST) ensured that it was announced during the day in the UK.

 

However, the practice was changed by Yashwant Sinha in 1999 under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government. Sinha, who was India’s finance minister between 1998 and 2002, suggested that the Budget be presented at 11 am as it would allow time to analyse numbers.

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Sinha also said that this would allow more informed debate in the Parliament.

On February 27, 1999, Sinha presented the Budget at 11 am for the first time in India. Since then, it has been presented at 11 am.

Budget 2024 date: Why will it be presented on February 1?

From 1999 till 2017, for almost 20 years, the Union Budget continued to be presented on the last working day in February. It was changed in 2017.

Arun Jaitley, who was then the finance minister, announced that from 2017, the Budget would be presented on February 1 and not on the last working day as it was a colonial-era practice.

Jaitley also announced that the Centre did not get ample time to make new policies for the year that would start from April 1, if the Budget is presented on the last day of February.

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The same year, India also merged the Railways Budget with the Union Budget after 92 years. 

Interim Budget 2024: What to expect?

Sitharaman has hinted that there may not be any big announcements in the upcoming Budget but experts still expect a number of key promises.

A recent poll by news agency Reuters suggested that the upcoming Budget is expected to strike a balance between populist measures and fiscal prudence. It said that the Centre will target a lower fiscal deficit of 5.3 per cent for 2024-25 from 5.9 per cent in the current year.

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Moreover, the focus may be on investment towards infrastructure, rural development and job creation.