Govt may merge Railway, Union budget from next fiscal

Finance Ministry has accepted Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu's proposal to merge Railway Budget with the General Budget, a PTI report said.

The 92-year old practice presenting a separate Railway Budget and General Budget, will end next fiscal. The Finance Ministry has formed a five-member committee with senior officials of the Ministry and the national transporters. The committee has been asked to submit a report by August 31, PTI said.

Last week, Prabhu told the Rajya Sabha about a letter written to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley requesting to merge the two budgets. 

"As far as (the) Railway Budget is concerned... I have written a letter personally to the Finance Minister saying we are willing for merger (of the Railway Budget with the General Budget). In fact, I had suggested even last year. So it's not that I want to just present a budget. I am looking at a national interest," he said.

If the merger happens, Indian Railway will not have to pay an annual dividend it is currently liable to make, for gross budgetary support from the government every year.

In June, Prabhu wrote a letter to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) after NITI Aayog's member Bibek Debroy recommended the move.

Debroy, in a separate note to the PMO, titled "Dispensing with the Rail Budget", said that the practice had failed to be useful for the sector. 

ZeeBiz had earlier reported, Debroy as saying, "The Railway Budget became a mechanism to announce popular measures, new trains, new routes, new rolling-stock manufacturing factories etc., with no concomitant focus on addressing Railways’ structural requirements, implementation of the ‘grand’ announcements, or funding needs."