Top Union Budget facts

The Union Budget is an event that receives massive attention from all quarters. Why not? It is indeed an important occasion as it not only sets the tone for the next financial year, it also impacts our daily lives. On February 29, Arun Jaitley, the finance minister, will present the Union Budget for 2016-17. In the run-up to the Budget, we have compiled these interesting facts about the Union Budget.

Budget timing
Until 1999, the budget had been presented at 5 pm. Yashwat Sinha changed this practice in 2001 by presenting it at 11 am. Since then, Budgets have been presented at 11 am.

Length of the Budget speech
Until 1982, Budget speeches used to be short. Pranab Mukherjee changed this trend by delivering a speech which lasted for about 1.5 hours. Since then, long speeches are the norm. In 2015, Arun Jaitley broke all records by delivering a two-hour-five-minute speech.

The Halwa ceremony
Before the initiation of the printing process of the Budget document, a Halwa ceremony is conducted at the North Block of Central Secretariat.

'Locked' in
All the officials engaged in Budget preparation are then 'locked' in the finance-ministry office and have no access to the outside world. They are allowed to leave only after the finance minister has started presenting the Budget in the parliament.

Budget names
P Chidambaram's 1997 Budget was termed as 'Dream Budget' as it sought to reduce income and corporate taxes. Manmohan Singh's 1992-93 Budget was called 'Epochal Budget' as import duties were slashed and the economy was liberalised. Yashwantrao B Chavan's Budget of 1973-1974 was termed as 'Black Budget' due to high fiscal deficit it projected.

Budget on a Saturday
In 2015, the Union Budget was presented on a Saturday, which is usually not the case. Even the stock market was open on this day.