Budget 2023: How India’s 9 Most Iconic Budgets Got Their Names

Union Budget 2023-2024: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her fifth Union Budget on Wednesday (February 1). Sitharaman, a four-time presenter, on February 1, 2020, set the record for the longest speech by clocking two hours and 42 minutes while presenting the Union Budget for 2020-21.

Former Finance Minister Hirubhai Muljibhai Patel gave the shortest speech of the Indian budget in 1977. Over the years, the tradition of presenting the budget has witnessed a plethora of interesting and historical changes which have affected the country’s economy in the most significant way. As Union Minister Sitharaman prepares to present the Budget 2023-2024, let’s take a look at some of India’s most iconic budgets.

First Budget of the Republic of India: This budget, presented by John Mathai, who was the Finance Minister in the Congress government, prepared the outline for the formation of the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission assesses all the resources of the country and plans the most effective use of these resources. Jawaharlal Nehru was the first chairman of the Planning Commission.

Rollback Budget: The budget for 2002-2003 was presented by Yashwant Sinha during the reign of the NDA government. The budget of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government is known as the Rollback Budget. Many of the proposals for the 2002–03 budget were either withdrawn or rolled back.

Millennium Budget: The Millennium Budget was presented by Yashwant Sinha in 2000. Sinha’s Millennium Budget presented a road map for the development of India’s information technology (IT) industry. The Millennium Budget discontinued the practice of incentives on software exporters. The 2000 budget also reduced customs duty on computers and computer accessories.

Dream Budget: Using Laffer Curve theory to reduce tax rates to increase collections, P Chidambaram presented the budget which became ‘every man’s budget dream’ in 1997-98. Lowering the corporate tax rate and reducing personal income tax rates from 40 percent to 30 percent, Chidambaram’s dream budget also encouraged higher investments from foreign institutional investors (FIIs).

Era Budget: Manmohan Singh’s iconic budget in 1991 ended the License Raj and also ushered in an era of economic liberalisation. Singh’s landmark budget was presented in Parliament at a time when India was on the verge of economic collapse. Taking necessary steps to boost exports, Singh’s historic budget reduced customs duty from 220 per cent to 150 per cent at that time.

Carrot and Stick Budget: The PV Narasimha Rao government ended the License Raj in 1991 and the initial steps to dismantle the system were taken when VP Singh presented the Union Budget in 1986. The ‘carrot and stick’ budget to the Union budget presented by Singh on 28 February to the Congress government. Rewards and penalties MODVAT (Modified Value Added Tax) was introduced in the budget. It also launched a campaign against smugglers, black marketeers and tax evaders.

Black Budget: Presented by Yashwantrao B. Chavan under the Indira Gandhi government, the 1973–74 budget was called the Black Budget because the fiscal deficit during that year was Rs 550 crore. The nation was embracing major financial crisis at the time.

Pranab Mukherjee’s Budget 2012: In Budget 2012-13, the government introduced the General Anti Avoidance Rules or GAAR. In his budget speech, Mukherjee said, “I propose to introduce a General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR) to counter aggressive tax avoidance schemes, while ensuring that it is used only in deserving cases.” , enabling review by a GAAR panel.”

The budget sparked a major controversy with retrospective changes to the Income Tax Act that allowed the government to pursue tax dues arising from the $11 billion Vodafone-Hutchison deal. GAAR was finally implemented in 2017. Vodafone and the Government of India are locked in international arbitration.

Jaitley’s Budget 2017 is full of initiatives

Arun Jaitley’s 2017 budget presentation merged the railway budget with the general budget, thus ending the 92-year-old tradition of having a separate railway budget.

A separate railway budget was introduced by the British in 1924. Even after the merger, the distinct entity and functional autonomy of the Railways, as envisaged, has been maintained.

This was the first budget after the Modi government took two important decisions: the passing of the Goods and Services Tax and demonetisation. The budget presented by former finance minister Arun Jaitley focused on the agriculture sector, healthcare and financial management. An amount of Rs 10 lakh crore was allocated as loan to the farmers. In addition, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) fund was increased to Rs 40,000 crore.

The main announcement in the budget was to reduce income tax from 10 per cent to 5 per cent for people earning between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh.

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