Wed Jan 29 09:02:15 UTC 2025: ## Union Budget to Omit Separate Railway Budget for Eighth Consecutive Year
**New Delhi** – Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her eighth Union Budget on February 1st, 2024, marking the eighth consecutive year that the Railway Budget will be integrated into the Union Budget. This follows the 2017 decision to merge the two, ending a 92-year-old tradition.
The then-Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the first combined budget in 2017, a move recommended by a NITI Aayog committee chaired by Bibek Debroy. Their white paper, “Dispensing with the Railway Budget,” argued that a unified budget would provide a more comprehensive view of the government’s finances. The decision, championed by then-Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, also aimed to streamline multimodal transport planning and improve resource allocation.
While the Railway Budget was presented separately since 1924, following a 1920-21 Acworth Committee recommendation, its merger ensures that the Ministry of Railways continues to operate as a commercially run department, albeit with a separate Statement of Budget Estimates and Demand for Grant. The Ministry of Finance now prepares and presents a single appropriation bill encompassing railway estimates. The upcoming budget is expected to encompass a wide range of initiatives, including tax reforms, infrastructure development, railway modernization, and significant investments in technology.
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