General budget to be presented on 28 February

The General Budget for the financial year 2015-16, the first full-fledged budget of the Narendra Modi government, will be presented on Saturday, 28 February.

The Railway Budget will be presented on 26 February, followed by tabling of the Economic Survey on 27 February.

According to the dates approved by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, the budget session will start on 23 February with the traditional President's address to the joint house of Parliament.

The motion of thanks to the President's address will be debated on 24 and 25 February. If the motion is not passed in the two days, it will be taken up later.

The first leg of the budget session will end on 20 March.

The second part of the session will commence after a month-long recess from 20 April and conclude on 8 May 8, official sources said.
 
During the recess period of the session, the parliamentary committees will to examine the budget proposals of the various ministries.
 
During the session, government will push the passage of bills on six ordinances, including those on coal, mines and minerals, e-rickshaws, amendment to Citizenship Act, Land Acquisition and the one on FDI in insurance sector promulgated recently.

Business and industry - both foreign and Indian - are putting big stakes in the budget, wherein the government is expected to announce important measures to boost 'Make in India'.

For the government, however, boosting investment side by side with reducing fiscal deficit will be a great balancing act.