presentation of Union Budget to the Parliament and the Budget for the state governments under
President’s Rule and union territory administrations. The Directorate of Currency has the
administrative control of the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited
(SPMCIL), a wholly owned Government of India Corporation that manages Government of
India mints, currency presses, security presses and security paper mill. In addition to formulating
and executing policies and programmes relating to designs/security feature of bank notes and
coins and issue of commemorative coins, the Directorate of Currency has also been mandated to
conduct R and D activities in this area and indigenization of all materials required for production
of bank notes and others security products.
Relevant Website: www.dea.gov.in
Annual Budget
The Union Budget (including the Rail Budget) is presented each year on the first working
day of February by the Finance Minister of India in Parliament.
Annual Financial Statement
Under Article 112 of the Constitution, a statement of estimated receipts and expenditure of
the Government of India has to be laid before Parliament in respect of every financial year. This
statement titled “Annual Financial Statement” is the main Budget document. The Annual
Financial Statement shows the receipts and payments of government under the three parts in
which government accounts are kept: (i) Consolidated Fund, (ii) Contingency Fund and (iii)
Public Account. All revenues received by government, loans raised by it, and also its receipts
from recoveries of loans granted by it, form the Consolidated Fund. All expenditure of
government is incurred from the Consolidated Fund and no amount can be withdrawn from the
Fund without authorisation from Parliament. Occasions may arise when government may have to
meet urgent unforeseen expenditure pending authorisation from Parliament. The Contingency
Fund is an imprest placed at the disposal of the President to incur such expenditure.
Parliamentary approval for such expenditure and for withdrawal of an equivalent amount from
the Consolidated Fund is subsequently obtained and the amount spent from Contingency Fund is
subsequently recouped to the Fund. The corpus of the Fund authorised by the Parliament, at
present, is ₹ 500 crore.
Besides the normal receipts and expenditure of Government which relate to the
Consolidated Fund, certain other transactions enter Government accounts, in respect of which,
Government acts more as a banker, for example, transactions relating to provident funds, small
savings collections and other deposits, etc. The moneys thus received are kept in the Public
Account and the connected disbursements are also made therefrom. Parliamentary authorisation
for such payments from the Public Account is, therefore, not required. In a few cases, a part of
the revenue of Government is set apart in separate funds for expenditure on specific objects like
road development, primary education including midday meal scheme, etc. These amounts are
withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund with the approval of Parliament and kept in the Public
Account for expenditure on the specific objects. The actual expenditure proposed on the specific
objects is, also submitted for vote of Parliament.
Under the Constitution, Budget has to distinguish expenditure on revenue account from
other expenditure. Government Budget, therefore, comprises (i) Revenue Budget; and (ii) Capital
Budget.