The Department of Economic Affairs under the Ministry of Finance has explained the meanings of different documents that you will come across while reading the Budget for this year. The first one in the list is Annual Financial Statement. As per the DEA, “Under Article 112 of the Constitution, a statement of estimated receipts and expenditure of the Government of India has to be laid before Parliament in respect of every financial year which runs from 1st April to 31st March. Annual Financial Statement is the main Budget document and is commonly referred to as the Budget Statement.
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“The estimates of expenditure from the Consolidated Fund included in the Budget Statements and required to be voted by the Lok Sabha are submitted in the form of Demands for Grants.Normally a separate demand is required to be presented for each of the major services under the control of a Ministry/Department.Each demand normally includes the total provisions required for a service, that is, provisions on account of revenue expenditure, capital expenditure, grants to States and Union Territories and also loans and advances relating to that service. Estimates expenditure included in the Demands for grants are for gross amounts,” as per DEA.
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Estimates of receipts included in the Annual Financial Statementare further explained and analysed in the Receipts Budget. Trend of revenue receipts and capital receipts over the years and details of ExternalAssistance are also included, as per the DEA explanation.
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Expenditure Budget Vol. No. 1
“Expenditure Budget Vol. No. 1 deals with the revenue and capital disbursements and gives the estimates in respect of Planand Non-Planand explains the variations in the estimates of both,” said the DEA. “Expenditure Budget Vol. 1 contains information in separate Statements and Annexures, providing information relating to General Expenditure, Non Plan Expenditure, and Plan Outlay. The Statements relating to Gender Budgeting and Budget provisions for schemes for the Welfare of Children, position on guarantees given by Central Government and outstanding as at the end of March last are also shown in this document.”
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Expenditure Budget Vol. No. 2
This document provides a brief explanation of the expenditure on items in various programmes, as well as revised Budget estimates of the previous year and estimates of the current year. “To understand the objectives underlying the expenditure proposed in the Demands for Grants, a brief description of the various items of expenditure on major programmes included in the Demands together with the reasons for variation between the budget estimates and revised estimates for the previous year and the budget estimates for the current year are given in this volume.”
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According to the DEA, “The Finance Bill is presented in fulfilment of the requirement of Article 110(1)(a) of the Constitution, detailing the imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of taxes proposed in the Budget. It is accompanied by a Memorandum explaining the provisions included in it.”
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Memorandum Explaining Provisions in Finance Bill
The tax proposals in the Finance Bill and their implications are explained in this document. “The purpose of this document is to facilitate understanding of the taxation proposals contained in the Finance Bill, with the provisions and their implications explained,” said the DEA.
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This document shows in brief, receipts and disbursements along with broad details of tax/non-tax revenues and other receipts and Plan and Non-Plan expenditure, including allocation of Plan outlays by sectors as well as by Ministries/Departments and details of resources transferred by the Central Government to State and Union Territory Governments.This document also shows the revenue deficit, the gross primary deficit and the gross fiscal deficit of the Central Government.
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This document highlights the key features of the Budget. “The key features of the Budget indicates, inter alia, the prominent achievements in various sectors of the economy, new initiatives announced in the Budget, allocation of funds made in important areas, and a summary of tax proposals,” said the DEA.
