Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will announce the third full Budget of the NDA government on February 1. Following the demonetisation drive, the 2017 Budget will be burdened by expectations that it will revive the struggling economy.
While all eyes will be on the upcoming government schemes and announcements, not many know how the Budget is prepared.
The Budget is geared up by a complete team of financial experts headed by the Finance Minister himself. Lets take a look at the prominent names from last year’s budget team and the roles they play in the preparation of the budget.
Finance Minister (Arun Jaitley): The Finance Minister is the head of the budget team and also the one who presents the Budget in Parliament. He himself prepares the script of the Budget.
Minister of State (MoS) for Finance (Santosh Kumar Gangwar and Arjun Ram Meghwal): The Minister of State for Finance is the second most important individual in the Budget team after the Finance Minister. He collects information from all departments of the Finance Ministry and shares it with the FM. He also heads the Finance ministry with the preparation of the budget speech.
Finance Secretary (Ashok Lavasa): He is the Permanent Secretary-level civil servant, who plays a leadership role among Finance Ministry bureaucrats and acts as the in-charge in budget preparation.
Economic Affairs Secretary (Shaktikanta Das): The Economic Affairs Secretary plays a pivotal role in the preparation of the budget. He communicates with the stakeholders and coordinates with the RBI Governor. Moreover, he also keeps track of the inflation rate and economic growth.
Revenue Secretary (Dr Hasmukh Adhia): The Revenue Secretary heads the department which exercises control in respect of matters relating to all the Direct and Indirect Union Taxes through two statutory Boards namely, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). This function makes his role important in budget preparation as the allotment depends on the availability of funds.
Financial Services Secretary (Anjali Chib Duggal): The Financial Services Secretary is responsible for policy determination, schemes, and implementing changes in banking and insurance sectors.
Disinvestment Secretary (Neeraj Kumar Gupta): He keeps track of the national and international markets and plans the disinvestment targets accordingly.
Chief Economic Advisor (Dr Arvind Subramaniam): He is the controlling authority of the Indian Economic Service and is under the direct charge of the MoF. He coordinates with the secretaries of the finance ministry and prepares the development template of various fields ranging from agriculture to industrial depending on the economic outlook.
Joint Secretary (Budget) (Prashant Goyal): He works in connection with the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) and is the nodal point in the process of budget preparation. It is under his guidelines that the facts are collected and reviewed following which the script of the budget is written.
