Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said- there will be no ‘grand announcement’ in the February budget
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday ruled out any “grand announcement” for her sixth Budget on February 1 next year, saying it would only be counting of votes ahead of the general elections.
Economic policy forum Global CII said the new government elected after the general elections in April and May will present the full budget for the financial year 2024-25 in July next year.
“No, I do not want to create any noise, but it is true that the budget that will be announced on February 1, 2024 will only be counting of votes because we will be in election mode. So, the budget that will be announced by the government will be only to cover the expenses of the government, until the new government enters the game”, he said.
“There are no spectacular announcements being made (on the voting account) at this time. Therefore, we will have to wait till the new government comes and presents the next full budget in July 2024”, Sitharaman said in response to the question whether any announcement will be made. “Estimated overloaded” in February.
Piyush Goyal, who took additional charge of the Finance Ministry after Arun Jaitley fell ill, presented the last provisional budget in 2019.
Traditionally, a vote is the right to make some necessary expenditure until a new government takes power.
In the past, governments have avoided making any important political announcements during vote counting, but there is no constitutional bar on making important announcements.
Goyal had announced an effective subsidy of Rs 6,000 per year for 12 million farmers in the 2019 provisional budget.
Goyal had also announced fiscal cuts for the middle class, which included increasing the standard deduction available for the earning class from Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000.
Additionally, full tax refund was announced for individual taxpayers with taxable annual income up to Rs 5 lakh. It was proposed in the provisional budget of 2019 that these taxpayers would not be obliged to pay any tax on rent. In addition, ministers have given political speeches that have been seen by some as arguments for re-election.
Before voting on the Accounts, governments also present the General Economic Study before the Budget which is traditionally presented a day before the presentation of the full Budget.
The survey, which details the state and directional growth of the economy, will be presented when the full budget is presented in Parliament in July.
