Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Interim Union Budget 2024 at the customary Halwa ceremony, which took place at North Block. A customary occasion that marks the conclusion of the budget preparation process is the Halwa ceremony. Because of the scheduled elections, the upcoming budget will only be an interim one; the full budget will be presented on July 4. Following the Budget Speech on February 1, 2024, Members of Parliament and the general public will have easy access to the Budget documents, including the Finance Bill and the Annual Financial Statement, through the Union Budget Mobile App. The budget preparation process is locked in with this ceremony.
Budget preparation officials are required to observe a "lock-in" period at their places of employment and isolate themselves under strict rules to guarantee that no budget details are disclosed.
As per the Constitution, the Finance Ministry has announced that all Union Budget documents, such as the Annual Financial Statement (also known as the Budget), Demand for Grants, Finance Bill, etc., that will be available via the "Union Budget Mobile App." The goal of this project is to make budgetary information easily accessible to the public and members of parliament. The Union Budget Web Portal (www.indiabudget.gov.in) will host the app that can be downloaded to access the documents on Android and iOS devices. The documents will be made available in both Hindi and English.
The Budget Speech in Parliament on 1 February 2024 will mark the beginning of the Budget documents' availability on the Mobile App. A review of the preparations was conducted by the Finance Minister and was joined by delegates Finance Secretary & Secretary, Expenditure T.V. Somanathan, Secretary, Economic Affairs Ajay Seth, Secretary, DIPAM Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Secretary, Revenue Sanjay Malhotra, Chairman, Central Board for Direct Taxes (CBDT) Nitin Gupta, and Chairman, Central Board for Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) Sanjay Kumar Agarwal.
