No separate Railway budget from next year, FM Jaitley says

Ministry of Finance on Wednesday announced the merger of Railway Budget with the General Budget. However its functional autonomy will continue to be maintained.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the 92-year old practice presenting a separate Railway Budget and General Budget, will end next fiscal. 

Reforms also include merger of the Plan and the Non-Plan classification in the Budget and Accounts in Budget 2017.

LIVE: Government is in favour of advancing date of presentation of Union Budget: FM @arunjaitley 1/2 #Budget2017 #BudgetMerger

— PIB India (@PIB_India) September 21, 2016

Jaitley said that all the procedure should be completed before 31st March so that implementation can began from 1st April.

LIVE: Exact date of #Budget2017 presentation would be decided keeping calendar of State Assembly elections in mind: FM @arunjaitley 2/2 https://t.co/r2wEfbqMbr

— PIB India (@PIB_India) September 21, 2016

In August, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had told Rajya Sabha about a letter written to Jaitley requesting to merge the two budgets. 

"As far as (the) Railway Budget is concerned... I have written a letter personally to the Finance Minister saying we are willing for merger (of the Railway Budget with the General Budget). In fact, I had suggested even last year. So it's not that I want to just present a budget. I am looking at a national interest," he had said.

With this merger, the Indian Railways will not have to pay an annual dividend it is currently liable to make, for gross budgetary support from the government every year.

In June, Prabhu wrote a letter to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) after NITI Aayog's member Bibek Debroy recommended the move.

Debroy, in a separate note to the PMO, titled "Dispensing with the Rail Budget", said that the practice had failed to be useful for the sector. 

ZeeBiz had earlier reported, Debroy as saying, "The Railway Budget became a mechanism to announce popular measures, new trains, new routes, new rolling-stock manufacturing factories etc., with no concomitant focus on addressing Railways’ structural requirements, implementation of the ‘grand’ announcements, or funding needs.