Budget 2024 enters last leg with traditional halwa ceremony and ‘lock in’ period at finance ministry

The final stage of preparing the union budget for FY25 has begun with the customary ‘halwa’ ceremony at North Block where the finance ministry is housed, the ministry said on Tuesday. 

The budget will be presented on 23 July and the economic survey a day before. The halwa ceremony is performed before the ‘lock-in’ process of officials involved in the budget preparation, the ministry stated.

The tradition and the lock-in

Under the ceremony, the finance minister serves officials and staff involved in budget preparation with the traditional sweet. After this, the officials and staff are locked inside the basement of the ministry building to ensure there is no leakage of the budget document. 

All the budget documents, including the annual financial statement, demand for grants and the Finance Bill will be available on the Union budget mobile software application for hassle-free access. 

The application is in English and Hindi and will be available on both Android and iOS platforms, the ministry said. 

The application can also be downloaded from the Union Budget Web Portal www.indiabudget.gov.in, the ministry said. The budget documents will be available on the application after the completion of the budget speech by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Sitharaman would be presenting her sixth full budget next Tuesday. Under her watch, budget documents have become easier to understand with special attention being given to explaining proposals. 

Legislative changes and tax proposals are explained very clearly as part of the budget speech itself as an annexure, in addition to a memorandum explaining the provisions.  

The full budget for FY25 is being presented in the context of the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) promise of ensuring macro-economic stability and making India a global manufacturing hub. 

Prime Minister Modi has also pledged to take steps to make India a developed nation in the next quarter of a century.  Many experts expect the budget to have provisions meant to boost job creation, investment in manufacturing and skill development.  

Tuesday’s ceremony was held in the presence of finance and corporate affairs minister Sitharaman, minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary, finance secretary T V Somanathan, revenue secretary Sanjay Malhotra, economic affairs secretary Ajay Seth, department of investment and public asset management secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey and other senior officials.