The Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched the “Union Budget Mobile App” before presenting the union budget on February 1, 2021. The launch of the mobile application is for members of the Indian Parliament and the public. Thereafter, the budget will be completely paperless. This decision was made in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Highlights:
♦ The mobile application will provide access to 14 union budget documents, including annual financial statements or budgets, grant requirements (DG) and draft financial regulations.
♦ The interface of the application is designed in a user-friendly way. It includes functions such as downloading, printing, searching, zooming in and out, directories and external links. This is a bilingual application (English and Hindi).
♦ The National Information Center (NIC) developed the application under the guidance of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA).
♦ The word “joint budget” is not seen in the Indian constitution. But “annual financial statements” are often called budgets. This annual financial statement is prepared in accordance with Article 112 of the Indian Constitution.
♦ The league budget was announced at 5:00 pm on the last working day of February until 1999. Since the 1999 Budget, the time has been changed to 11 am. In 2016, Narendra Modi changed the budget submission date to February 1. In 2016, the railway budget was also merged with the union budget.
♦ The printing of budget documents starts with the customary Halva ceremony, and the etiquette is performed by the Minister of Finance. In July 2019, when the Finance Minister was budgeting in Bahi-Khata, the tradition of using leather briefcases for budgeting also changed.
