New Delhi: The voluminous information contained in the Annual Financial Statement or the Union Budget is organized under different heads primarily due to two reasons – first to comply with the Constitutional requirement and also for easy reference for the members of Parliament and the general public who wish to study the budget provisions.
The budget is primarily divided into two parts – the receipt budget and the expenditure budget. Further, Article 112 of the Constitution mandates that revenue expenditure of the government which does not result in any asset creation should be shown separately from other kinds of expenditures.
In recent years, the finance ministry has decided to provide certain expenditure-related details under the title of the Expenditure Profile. This document was earlier known as Expenditure Budget Volume I.
However, the Expenditure Budget Volume I has now been recast in line with the decision to merge plan and non-plan expenditure. Now, Expenditure Profile gives an aggregation of different kinds of expenditures and also includes certain other items across demands.
Moreover, under the present accounting and budgetary procedures, certain classes of receipts, such as payments made by one government department to another and receipts of capital projects or schemes, are taken in reduction of the expenditure of the receiving department.
Also Read: Union Budget Explained: What is Expenditure Budget?
While the estimates of expenditure included in the demands for grants are for the gross amounts, the estimates of expenditure included in the Annual Financial Statement are for the net expenditure, after taking into account the recoveries.
Expenditure Profile document also makes several other improvements in accounting practices such as netting expenditure of related receipts so that overstatement of receipts and expenditure figures is avoided.
It also contains statements indicating major variations between the budget estimates and revised estimates of a financial year and also provides the variations between the revised estimates of the financial year and budget estimates for the next financial year with the explanatory notes.
Expenditure Profile also includes the details of contributions made to International bodies and estimated strength of establishment of various government departments and provisions for them are shown in separate statements.
With the increasing focus on gender justice, the expenditure profile also shows statements on Gender Budgeting, and also carries the details of schemes for development of SC/STs including the details of the Scheduled Caste Sub-Scheme (SCSS) and Tribal Sub-Scheme (TSS) allocations.
In addition to including the details of allocation for women and SC/STs, Expenditure Profile also includes the details of the schemes for the welfare of children.
It also contains the statements on the expenditure details and budget estimates regarding the autonomous bodies and also includes the details of certain important funds in the Public Account.
