Budget Trivia: Why is the Budget presented at 11 AM?

Time for some Budget trivia! Since the year 2000, the Budget has been presented at 11 AM each year. Ever wondered why?

By: Riya |
February 1, 2017 10:49 am

Are you a curious George who wants to know the who, what and why of everything? Well, do you know why that budget is presented at 11 AM?

In India, the Budget is presented in the Parliament on a date fixed. The General Budget is presented at 11 AM on the last working day of February, i.e. about a month before the commencement of the financial year.
R. K. Shanmukham Chetty on 26 November 1947 and until the year 2000, the Union Budget was announced at 5 PM on the last working day of the month of February. This practice was inherited from the Colonial Era, when the British Parliament would pass the budget in the noon followed by India in the evening of the day.

It was Mr.Yashwant Sinha, the then Finance Minister of India, who changed the ritual by announcing the 2001 Union Budget at 11 AM.

The PRS legislative Twitter handle has tweeted out the trivia:

Why is the Budget presented at 11 am? pic.twitter.com/cpZvXvV5ps

— PRS Legislative (@PRSLegislative) February 29, 2016

FM Arun Jaitley has tweeted about the Budget being presented at 11 AM today:

Watch me live presenting the Union Budget 2017 at 11 am, February 1, 2017 https://t.co/BtQAlBf8Zz

— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) February 1, 2017

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is scheduled to present the Budget 2017 at 11 AM in the Lok Sabha. The government decided to present the Budget 2017 on February 1 instead of the regular date of February 28. For the first time, there won’t be a separate Railways Budget as the government decided to merge it with the General Budget. Copies of the Budget 2017 have been brought to the Parliament.