In view of the upcoming general elections, the government is likely to come out with full budget, also referred to as vote-on-account.The Union Budget is presented on February 1. Jaitley is scheduled to present his sixth consecutive Budget with 2019 being vote-on-account. As per the practice, a vote-on-account or approval for essential government spending for a limited period is taken in an election year and a full-fledged budget is presented by the new government.
While P Chidambaram had presented the previous UPA government's vote-on-account in February 2014, Jaitley presented a full budget in July that year. Narendra Modi-led government scrapped a colonial-era tradition of presenting the budget at the end of February. With the preponement of budget, ministries are now allocated their budgeted funds from the start of the financial year beginning April. This gives government departments more leeway to spend as well as allow companies time to adapt to business and taxation plans.
Previously, when the budget was presented at the end of February, the three-stage Parliament approval process used to get completed some time in mid-May, weeks ahead of the onset of monsoon rains. This meant government departments would start spending on projects only from August-end or September after the monsoon season ended. PTI
