India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has introduced the Union budget 2022 on February 1, 2022. The length of the Union budget 2022 is 1 hour 30 minutes, the shortest among the budget speeches that generally go for about 2 hours at least. During the union budget of 2020, the finance minister’s speech was the longest in the history of independent India, approx 2 hours and 40 minutes. Before being presented to the Rajya Sabha, the Union Budget 2022 was presented to the Lok Sabha on February 1. The Economic survey 2022 was delivered on January 31, 2022, before the budget session.
Union budget 2022 facts
The Finance Ministry prepares the Union budget 2022 in collaboration with other relevant ministries. Railway budgets were there separately from it until 2017. The Finance Minister has presented the budget in the Lok Sabha on February 1 at 11 a.m. since 2017. Generally, the duration of the budget speech is 90 to 120 minutes.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman gave the most extended budget address in 2021 clocking in approx 160 minutes.
Jaswant Singh gave the longest budget speech in 2003 lasting 135 minutes before Nirmala Sitharaman.
The record for the shortest budget speech with 800 words belongs to Hirubhai M. Patel in 1977.
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Presentation of India’s annual budget 2022 is associated with the finance minister in parliament is only a small part of the entire budgeting process. The Union budget is more than it. The whole budgetary process is a quite lengthy process. Therefore, we will have to understand the different stages of it in order to understand the union budget of India.
Basically, the budget is a statement of anticipated receipts and expenditures. Hence, it is essential to understand the sources from which the government can raise money. Apart from this, it is also important where the government spends the money raised. All these details are presented in documents known as receipt and expenditure budgets.
Few other documents are also presented in the budget due to the complex nature of the government budget 2022. Let us know the multidimensional aspects of the budget for 2022.
From where government raises money
There are many sources from which the union government raises money. These sources can be categorized in different ways.
Government Receipts (Union Budget 2022):-
Revenue receipts
Tax revenue
- Income Tax
- GST
- Corporation tax
- Custom duty
- Excise duty
Non-tax revenue
- Interest receipts
- Dividends
Capital receipts
Debt Receipts
- Borrowing
Non-Debt Receipts
- Interest Receipts
- Dividends
62% of the union government receipts come from taxes and non-tax resources for 16 % percent.
Borrowing accounts make up about 22% of the resources of the Union Government.
Where the government spends this money
Expenditure also can be classified in different ways: Capital Expenditure and Revenue Expenditure. Moreover, there are other classifications at the ministry-wise levels. Let us see three types of classification.
Voted vs charged expenditure
Voted expenditure must be authorized by parliament while charged expenditure is automatically debited from the consolidated fund of India.
In other words, voted expenditure includes areas like health, education, sanitation infrastructure where the government decides how much it wants to spend. This is a part of the Union budget while charged expenditure is independent of the government’s authorization, for example, interest payments, salaries of the president, Lok Sabha speaker etc.
Budget at a glance
The breakup of union government expenditure is mentioned in the ‘Budget at a Glance’ document.
State’s share in Taxes (20 %)
Interest Payment (18%)
Central Sector Schemes (13%)
Finance Commission Transfer (10%) Centrally sponsored schemes (9%) Defense (8%)
Pension (6 %)
Subsidies (6%)
Other expenditure (10%)
Ministry wise expenditure
The expenditure also can be classified according to its ministries but all the expenditure does not go through ministries like transfers to states and interest payments. Except for these exceptions, the Union Government’s expenditure can be classified according to its ministry as given below
(Expenditure (In Rs. Crore)
- Defense (4,71,378)
- Agriculture and farmer’s Welfare (1,42,762)
- Consumer Affairs (1,24,535)
- Rural Development (1,22,398)
- Human Resource Development ( 99,312)
- Road Transport and Highways (91,823)
- Health and Family Welfare (69,234)
- Housing and Urban Affairs (50, 040)
- Women and Child Development (30,007)
- Others (79,603)
The Ministry of defense is the biggest spender, approx 24 percent of all the expenditure incurred by the Union Government. Ministry-level expenditure provides insights into the priorities of the government.
Main budget documents
The Union Government has to present a statement of receipts and expenditure of the Government of India before both the House of parliament according to Article 112 of the constitution. It is also known as the ‘Annual Financial Statement’. Apart from this, the Union Government presents a number of other documents with the Union Budget.
List of all the Union Budget Documents
- Annual Financial Statement
(The Budget)
- Key to Budget Documents
- Budget Highlights
- Budget Speech
- Budget at a Glance
(Summary Documents)
- Finance Bill
- Memorandum
- Receipt Budget
- Customs and Central Excise Notifications
(Documents Related to Receipts)
- Expenditure Budget
- Expenditure Profile
- Summary of Demands for Grants
- Detailed Demands for Grants
- Appropriation Bill
(Documents Related to Expenditure)
- The Macro-Economic Framework Statement
- The medium-term Fiscal Policy cum The Fiscal Policy Strategy Statement
(FRBM Related Documents)
- Economic survey
- Output Outcome Framework for Schemes
- Implementation of Budget Announcement
(Other Related Documents)
- Gender Budget Statement
- Statement on the Allocations for the Welfare of Children
- Statement on Allocation for Welfare of Scheduled Castes
- Statement on Allocation for Welfare of Scheduled Tribes
- Allocation for the North Eastern Region
- Statement of Revenue Foregone (Special Budget Documents)
Objective and importance of the union budget
The main objective of the annual budget for 2022 is to present the early financial record and plannings of the government. The Union budget helps the government in bringing out fast and all-inclusive economic growth of our country. It helps to empower the government to carry out its constitutional duties for example providing Social justice and equality for all. These are the following key objectives which highlight the importance of the Union budget in India
- Resource allocation for public welfare
- Reduce poverty level and create employment to uplift the downtrodden sections of the society
- Creating various programs so that citizens get basic needs such as Food, Shelter, Education and HealthCare
- Union Budget ensure a fair distribution of income through taxes and subsidies
- It also takes steps to control inflation, deflation and Economic fluctuations
- Also, Make sure economic stability in the country
- Union budget can make changes in the tax structure in the country
