The 2017-18 budget is a break from the past in many respects. The budget will be presented on February 1 from now on, a departure from the age-old practice of presenting the financial statement on the last day of the month. The Economic Survey that precedes the budget was brought out on January 31 this time.
Another peculiarity this year is the incorporation of the railway budget into the general budget.
The railway had its own budget ever since the 1924 document that followed a report by British economist William Acworth. The railway's expenditure comprised 70 percent of the budget then.
The practice of presenting a separate budget for the railways was scrapped based on a report presented by NITI Aayog members Bibek Debroy and Kishore Desai.
NITI Aayog replaced the Planning Commission of India, ahead of the expiry of the last of the Five Year Plans on March 31. The practice of categorizing expenditure as “plan” and “non-plan” has been changed to a division of capital and revenue expenditure.
The last time the budget had undergone significant changes was during the term of the then prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. His finance minister Yashwant Sinha started the budget speech at 11 am in 2001. The previous speeches started at 5 pm.