New Delhi: The Union budget, which lays out a roadmap for India’s fiscal and financial reforms, is a widely anticipated event every year. Over the years, various governments have tried to strike a balance between economic growth and social equality through allocation of the resources in their budgets. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has a similar task cut out for her in the upcoming budget.
Mint brings you interesting data points about budgets over the decades. Parting Pains View Full Image Mint Share Via The economic burden of the massive humanitarian crisis created by the partition was evident in the first budget of independent India presented by R. K.
Shanmukham Chetty in November 1947. The defence forces played a pivotal role in the rehabilitation of refugees. The country was also in the middle of a military conflict with Pakistan.
As a result, a staggering 47% of the total expenditure was earmarked for defence. The fiscal deficit was as much as 21% of the expenditure. FM Score View Full Image Mint Share Via Twenty-six finance ministers have presented 89 Union budgets so far since Independence.
Morarji Desai presented 10 of them, the most among all. P. Chidambaram comes next, with nine budgets, followed by Pranab Mukherjee with seven, spanning across the early 1980s and 2009 to 2012.
The current finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, is set to present her 5th budget on Wednesday, which will put her at joint seventh in the list. Four finance ministers went on to become prime ministers. Tiny Pockets This is the share of ministries traditionally having a minuscule allocation in the overall budget spent.
In the last 14 years, 37 ministries and departments had a share of less than 1% in the Centre’s expenditure. This includes the ministry of social justice and empowerment and the department of atomic energy. On the other side, an average of over 50% of the outlays over a decade have gone to only two ministries.
Finance and defence made up 39% and 13% in Budget 2022. Not So Women-friendly View Full Image Mint Share Via With an aim to track the budgetary allocations through a gender lens, gender budgeting was first introduced in 2005-06. Historically, around 5% of the funds were spent on schemes benefiting women, and the share stood at nearly 4% last year.
The schemes are of two kinds: those that are fully women-specific (Part A) and those partially addressing women’s developmental needs (Part B). Part B schemes dominate the gender budget with an 84% share in 2022-23. Taxing Gains View Full Image Mint Share Via The tax receipts of the central government have stayed at nearly 7% of GDP since FY10, after crossing 8% of GDP for a few years.
The share of non-tax revenues has also dropped since then, mostly remaining below 2% and now just over 1%. For FY23, the government had budgeted a 9. 6% increase in both gross and net tax revenues over the revised estimates for FY22, and the collections are expected to overshoot the estimates.
The non-tax revenues were budgeted to decline 14%. Getting it Right The annual financial statement also comes up with economic growth forecasts each year. Over the past decade, the budget has overestimated the nominal GDP on six occasions while it underestimated the economic output in the other four years.
In the pandemic-hit 2020-21, the government had pegged a nominal GDP of ₹ 224. 9 trillion, but the final figure came to be ₹ 198 trillion, 12% lower due to the lockdown. MINT PREMIUM See All Premium The man behind a $50 billion sell-off Premium From 97% to 42%: How tax rates for individuals changed .
. . Premium Razorpay offers forex service for startups Premium Dixon Technologies needs demand to pick up and soon enough Thumbs Down View Full Image Mint Share Via Historical patterns suggest that equities have traded weakly on budget day.
In the past 20 budgets, including both the interim and the full-year budget in election years, the Sensex has given a thumbs down on 11 occasions, while it advanced nine other times, with the highest gain of 5% in 2021. The broader markets typically follow suit as only few among the key sectoral indices tend to end in green on the D-day. However, auto, FMCG and banks cheered in over 55% instances.
Budget Curiosity View Full Image Mint Share Via This annual financial exercise which sets the tone for policy and financial reforms every year derives its name from the French word bougette, which means a leather briefcase. The much-hyped event generates a lot of interest as Indians watch out for tax reliefs and other major announcements. Google search interest for the word “budget" last year was the highest in major state economies such as Maharashtra and Karnataka, and Delhi.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Niti Kiran Niti Kiran is a data journalist who really likes data. With over 10 years of experience in corporate and market research, she has an eye for detail. Data research is Niti's forte and constantly fascinates her.
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