Union Budget 2019: Changes in tradition over the years

A few marked changes in the tradition of presenting the Union Budget was observed after 1999. For instance, until 1999, the Union Budget was announced on the last working day of February at 5 pm, a practice inherited from the colonial era. But in 1999, the timings were changed to 11 am by then Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. Since 2017, the Budget is presented on 1 February instead of the last workday of February. Another big change was the announcement of the Railway Budget. The Railway Budget, the annual financial statement of the state-owned Indian Railways, was presented a few days before the Union Budget till 2016. This tradition was discontinued after 92 years when the Narendra Modi government approved the merger of the Railway Budget with the Union Budget on 21 September 2016. Follow full coverage of Union Budget 2019-20 here