The stage is set for the announcement of India’s budget for 2022-23 as Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has left her office and is en route Parliament. Sitharaman will be presenting her fourth Union Budget at 11 am today.

As a crucial prelude for the Union Budget 2022-23, the Economic Survey 2021-22 was tabled in the Parliament on yesterday, on January 31. In the survey, it was projected that the economy is expected to grow at 8.0-8.5 per cent in 2022-23, thereby moderating the growth forecast from 9.2 per cent expansion for 2021-22 outlined by the National Statistical Office (NSO) in its first advance estimates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

In a marked departure from the past budgets, sweets were provided to the core staff due to the “lock-in” at their workplaces, instead of a customary Halwa ceremony held every year in consideration of the ongoing COVID19 pandemic situation and the need to observe health safety protocols, the ministry said.

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“To maintain the secrecy of Budget, there is a “lock-in” of the officials involved in making the Budget. Budget Press, situated inside North Block, houses all officials in the period leading up to the presentation of the Union Budget. These officers and staff will come in contact with their near and dear ones only after the Budget is presented by the Union Finance Minister in the Parliament,” the ministry further noted.

Also, the finance minister will present the this year’s budget in “paperless form”. The entire budget document will be released on a mobile application named ‘Union Budget Mobile App’, for lawmakers and the general public after it is presented in the Parliament on February 1.

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Also, an Indian-made tablet has replaced the traditional ‘Bahi Khata’ (the book containing the Budget details).