Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her third Union Budget this year, even as data from the National Statistical Office (NSO) estimates a slowdown in India's GDP growth to 7 per cent in the financial year 2022-23. Before the Finance Minister presents the Union Budget, let us have a look at one of its components.
What is a revenue budget?
The revenue budget is the total of the government's revenue receipts and revenue expenditures.
Revenue receipts consist of two sources: Tax and non-tax revenue. Tax revenue includes direct tax such as income tax and indirect tax such as GST, cess and import/export duties.
Non-tax revenue includes the interest earned on the government's investments, loans and income from other services it renders.
Revenue expenditure includes the government's expenses in running its ministries and departments and the services and programs it offers to citizens such as social security, pension, medical services via ESI and so forth. It also includes the interest it pays on loans it borrows and subsidies it provides.
The total bill of the revenue receipts and expenditures is tabled during the presentation of the annual Union Budget. Generally, the government's expenditure exceeds its income, creating a revenue deficit or fiscal deficit.