NEW DELHI, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Indian government is likely to prepone the presentation of its General Budget for the next financial year by a month.
Highly placed sources said that the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA), headed by Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Tuesday recommended holding of the Budget Session from Jan. 31 this year and tabling of the Budget on Feb. 1, instead of the usual Feb. 28 every year.
Moreover, the 92-year-old practice of presenting the Railway budget will also end from the next fiscal, with the Finance Ministry recently accepting Indian Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu's proposal to merge it with the general Budget.
The CCPA's recommendations came nearly three months after the Indian Cabinet of Ministers decided to end the colonial-era tradition of presenting the Budget on the last day of February and advance it by about a month.
The decision was taken considering the fact the government will be able to complete the legislative process for approval of annual spending plans and tax proposals before beginning of the new financial year on April 1.
