Cabinet advances budget session, merges Railway into General budget

New Delhi: Putting an end to the years-long practice of presenting a separate railway budget, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided to merge it into the general budget from next financial year. There will be no separate budget for railway from the next financial year, said finance minister Arun Jaitley after the cabinet meeting.

The finance minister stated, “Rail and general budget will be amalgamated from now and there will only be one budget.” He, however, said that no changes will made to the functional autonomy of the railways.

The practice of presenting a separate railway budget started in 1924 during the British period.

The move to discard the practice came after a two-member committee of Niti Aayog recommended ending the exercise.

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Cabinet advances budget session:

• The cabinet headed by PM Modi also approved advancement of date for presentation of the general budget. The budget which is usually announced at the end of February will now be presented sometime near January 25, a month ahead of the current time period.
• Early presentation of budget indicates that the entire exercise would be end by March 31, the finance minister said. “The new practice will ensure a better implementation of expenditure and tax proposals by bringing them to effect right from the beginning of the new Fiscal,” said Jaitley.