The Union Budget 2016 may be advanced by a month to 31 January instead of the usual practice of presenting it on the last working day of February, according to the finance ministry.

The government hopes, that the move will help initiate revenue mobilization and capital expenditure measures right from the beginning of the fiscal year.

A finance ministry official said that, “It is a proposal by the department of economic affairs which has been put before the finance minister Arun Jaitley for approval. It may also need consent of the Parliament secretariat.”

“It will help departments start spending the money allocated to them right from the beginning of the fiscal year instead of waiting for the budget to be passed by the Parliament. It will also help in resource mobilization as budget proposals can be implemented from 1 April,” the official added.

N.R. Bhanumurthy, a professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, said that, “I don’t see any major gain in revenue generation.”

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Nandini