A Few Interesting Facts On The Union Budget

Arun Jaitley is expected to present the Union Budget 2018-19 on February 1. Here are a few interesting facts on the Union Budget.

A Few Interesting Facts On The Union Budget

• The Union Budget used to be announced at 5 pm on the last working day of February. The practice to change it to 11 am on the last day of February was introduced in 1999 by our then Finance Minister Mr. Yashwant Sinha.
• A 'halwa ceremony' takes place before the budget, wherein halwa is served to all the officers and staff involved in the making and printing of the budget by the Finance Minister, as is a traditional belief in India to eat something sweet before an auspicious event.
• In 2017, it was announced by our current Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley that the budget would now on be presented on the 1st of February at 11 am. This is to facilitate smooth implementations of reforms by the beginning of the next final year, i.e. 1st of April.
• A week before the budget, documents related to the Budget are printed at North Block, Central Secretariat, New Delhi. The employees involved in the printing are kept in a state of isolation till the presentation of the budget.