Budget

• A budget is an estimation of revenue and expenses over a specified future period of time.
• Budget is derived from the French word "bougette" meaning a bag or wallet.
• The word "budget" is nowhere mentioned in the Indian Constitution. It is referred to as the Annual Financial Statement in Article 112 of the Indian Constitution.
• India's 1st budget was presented on April 7, 1860. It was introduced by the then Finance Minister, James Wilson.
• After Independence, the first Indian Budget was presented on 26th November 1947 by the then Finance Minister Mr RK Shanmukham Chetty.
• Prof. Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis - Man behind the Union Budget concept. 
• It is presented every year on February 1st by Finance Minister. Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) is responsible for producing the budget.
• In 1958, Jawaharlal Lal Nehru was the first Prime Minister to present the budget when Finance Minister, Mr TT Krishnamachari resigned. 
• Mr Morarji Desai holds the record for presenting the maximum number of budgets (10) followed by Mr P Chidambaram and Mr Pranab Mukherjee (9 and 8 respectively). 
• The Railway Budget was presented every year, a few days before the Union budget, till 2016. 
• Acworth Committee recommended to separate railway budget from the general budget.
• Modi government on 21 September 2016 approved merger of the Rail and General budgets from 2017 onwards.
• John Matthai presented the first Railway Budget for independent India on 20th November 1947.
• Mr. Suresh Babu presented the last Railway Budget on 25 February 2016.
• Mamata Banerjee - First female to present the Railway budget.
• Military/Defense budget of India is the budget allocated for the funding of the Indian Armed Forces (Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force). 
• ‘Lock-in period’ - Number of days which exists to maintain the secrecy of the Budget.
• FM Nirmala Sitharaman presented the first paperless budget on 1 February 2021 (Union Budget 2021-2022). 
• She took a digital tablet which is considered a move to strengthen Modi's Digital India mission.
• Uttar Pradesh - 1st state to present a paperless budget on February 22, 2021 by UP Finance Minister Suresh Khanna.
• Interim Budget - Budget presented by the Central Government just before the General elections.
• Union Budget 2014-15 was the first budget of Narendra Modi led NDA government.

Components of a budget

• Government budget and its components can be divided into two parts:
• Capital budget
• Revenue budget
• Revenue Receipts: Revenue receipts estimate the amount or revenue the government expects to receive from the citizens in the upcoming financial year. Income Tax, GST, corporate tax, excise duty, etc., are the various types of taxes through which the government receives revenue. Neither create liability nor creates an asset.
• Revenue Expenditure: It highlights the expenses the government expects to incur for the daily functioning of the economy and to provide citizens with the essential public services. Ex. Operational expenses like maintaining government offices, paying salaries to government officials and providing subsidies to citizens.
• Revenue expenditure > Revenue budget ----> Revenue deficit
• Total expenditure - Total receipts ----> Budget deficit
• Total expenditure - Total receipts except borrowing ----> Fiscal deficit
• Capital Receipts: Either creates a liability or reduce asset of the government.
• Capital Expenditure: Indicates the expenses the government incurs to create long-term assets and provide welfare facilities to the citizens.