Indian Budget

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee became the first finance minister to
present the Union Budget on either side of an election and the first
to do so after a quarter-century gap, in 2009.

His last three Budgets were presented between 1982 and 1984. Mukherjee
was rated as the best finance minister in the world in 1984 by
Euromoney magazine.

Budgets have always been presented on the last day of February. So
B-day is always on February 28, except on leap years when it is
presented on February 29. However, last year, the Budget was presented
on February 26 as 28th was a Sunday.

Of course, there are occasions when instead of a full-fledged Budget,
an interim budget is presented. On occasions, a vote on account is
presented in place of a Budget: this is done during an election year.
The full or interim Budget, as the case may be, is presented by the
new dispensation that has been voted to power.

R K Shanmukham Chetty presented independent India's first budget. R K
Shanmukhan Chetty served as the finance minister in Jawaharlal Nehru's
Cabinet between 1947-49.

On November 26, 1947 Chetty presented the first Budget of independent
India. Actually, it was a review of the economy and no new taxes were
proposed as the Budget day for 1948-49 was just 95 days away.
Chetty resigned in 1949 due to differences with the then prime
minister Pandit Jawarharlal Nehru.

India has had 28 finance ministers since Independence. The word Budget
was derived from the French word, bougette, which in turn is a
diminutive of bouge, meaning a leather bag.

The Budget is discussed in two stages in Lok Sabha. First, there is
the general discussion on the Budget as a whole. This lasts for about
four to five days.
Only the broad outlines of the Budget and the principles and policies
underlying it are discussed at this stage. The 'Annual Financial
Statement' is laid on the table of Rajya Sabha at the conclusion of
the speech of the finance minister in Lok Sabha.

The highly confidential Budget papers are printed at finance
ministry's own printing press. The press at the basement of the
building, becomes a forbidden area and about 30 employees of the press
stay in the ministry for the last seven days to ensure foolproof
secrecy.

The finance minister is required to submit the Budget to the
Parliament usually on the last working day of February so that the Lok
Sabha has one month to review and modify the Budget proposals.
The Budget proposed by the finance minister comes into effect after
parliamentary discussion on the Budget has been completed by April 1.

Indira Gandhi has been India's only woman finance minister for a year
from 1970 to 1971.

Morarji Desai was the longest serving finance minister. Desai was FM
for five years under Nehru and three years under Indira Gandhi.

Morarji Desai presented two Budgets on his birthday, February 29, in
1964 and 1968.

C D Deshmukh was the first Indian Governor of the Reserve bank of
India to have presented the Interim Budget for 1951-52.

Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Indian prime minister to present the
Budget when he was in charge of the finance ministry in 1958-59.

Many Indian finance ministers later became prime ministers. Morarji
Desai, was twice the finance minister of India -- 1959-64 and 1967-70.
He served as the prime minister from 1977 to 1979. Chaudhary Charan
Singh became the prime minister in late 1979, having held the finance
portfolio earlier the same year.
V P Singh was finance minister from 1985 to 1987 and prime minister
from 1989 to 1990.

India's first prime minister (1947-64) Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru had also
held the finance portfolio from 1958 to 1959.

Indira Gandhi and Manmohan Singh too held the finance portfolio.

Two finance ministers, Yashwant Sinha and Manmohan Singh have
presented 5 budgets in a row.

R Venkataraman was India's finance minister from 1980-82. He later
served as President of India from 1987-1992.

Yashwant Sinha has the distinction for maximum rollbacks in the Union
Budget that presented in 2002, he went back on at least five budget
proposals.

Rajiv Gandhi presented the budget for 1987-88 after V P Singh quit his
government.

Manmohan Singh, in his annual budgets from 1992-93, liberalised the
economy, encouraged foreign investments and reduced peak import duty
from 300 plus per cent to 50 per cent.

Until 2000, the Union Budget was announced at 5 pm on the last working
day of the month of February.
This practice was inherited from the British, when their Parliament
would pass the budget in the noon followed by India in the evening of
the day. Yashwant Sinha changed the timing to 11 a.m.

The Union Budget of India for the year 1997-98, presented on February
28, 1997 by the Finance Minister P Chidambaram, was hailed as a 'Dream
Budget'.
The budget unveiled a road map for economic reforms in India.
Chidambaram lowered income tax rates, got rid of the surcharge on
corporate tax and reduced corporate tax rates.

Budget papers began to be prepared in Hindi from 1955-56.

The Budget is just round the corner. And people are looking to Finance
Minister Pranab Mukherjee to put some more money into their hands in
the form of tax breaks to get some relief from bone-crushing
inflation.

But will the finance minister's Budget proposals soothe the frayed
nerves of the Indian populace? With prices of almost every commodity
going through the roof, the burden on the beleaguered common man is
unbearable. So can the finance minister wave his magic wand and
provide much-needed relief to the aam aadmi or will we again be doomed
to fend for ourselves and hope for the best?

There is no end to rising food prices in India. Food inflation rose to
15.57 per cent for the period ended January 15, on account of
spiraling vegetable prices. Vegetable prices rose by 67.07 per cent on
an annual basis.

Onions have turned out to be the costliest vegetable. It rose by a
whopping 111.58 per cent year-on-year, thus, showing that government
initiatives like export ban were not effective.

On an annual basis, prices of fruits went up by 16.40 per cent while
milk became expensive by 12.44 per cent. Prices of egg, meat and fish
went up by 13.58 per cent year-on-year.
But vegetables and cereals are not the only products that are pinching people

With crude oil prices rising again, airlines in India are set to hike
fares. Air turbine fuel prices have already risen by 3.5 per cent. A
5-10 per cent rise in airfares is likely.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said the burden of oil price
rise will have to be borne at least partly by the people as oil
marketing companies were unable to sell at earlier rates.

After freeing petrol prices in 2010, prices were hiked for the fifth
time in 2010 by Rs 2.95 per litre.

The biggest hike in six months, however, is said to be still short of
the desired Rs 4.17 a litre increase that would have made domestic
prices on par with market rates.

The fiscal performance during the current fiscal has been 'very
satisfactory', Mukherjee said, adding the gross tax collection up to
December 2010 showed a growth of 27 per cent year on year.

Customs and excise duties recorded a growth of 66 per cent and 37 per
cent, respectively, indicating that "manufacturing activities is on
strong growth path in spite of monthly fluctuations in the index of
industrial production witnessed in recent months," he said.

"Both the fiscal and revenue deficits are well below the levels
recorded in the corresponding period of the last year.

"While the current fiscal situation has been aided by more than
anticipated realisation in non-tax revenues it has also afforded the
opportunity to increase plan and other developmental spendings in the
course of the year," the minister said.


Source: got this in an email....