Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table the interim Budget 2024 on Thursday (February 1) at the Lok Sabha. This time, the minister will equal the record of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai when she presents her sixth straight Budget. Sitharaman, the first full-time woman finance minister of the country, has presented five full Budgets since July 2019 and will present an interim or vote-on-account budget today.


With the presentation of interim Budget, she will surpass the records of her predecessors like Manmohan Singh, Arun Jaitley, P Chidambaram, and Yashwant Sinha, who had tabled five Budgets in a row.


As the Lok Sabha elections are expected to be held in the next few months, Sitharaman's interim Budget may not contain any major policy changes. Last month, Sitharaman, while speaking at an industry event, had ruled out any ‘spectacular announcement’ in the interim Budget, saying it would just be a vote-on-account before the general elections.


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A vote-on-account, once approved by Parliament, will authorise the government to withdraw money from the Consolidated Fund of India on pro-rata basis to meet expenditure for the April-July period.


The new government, which is likely to be formed around June, will come up with a final Budget for 2024-25 sometime in July. Usually, interim Budgets do not contain major policy announcements, but nothing stops the government from taking steps which are necessary to deal with the urgent issues facing the economy.


Sitharaman will table the interim Budget in Parliament at 11 am IST. The finance minister's address will be streamed live on the official Parliamentary channel — Sansad TV — on YouTube on any compatible device, on Thursday.


Here's a link to the channel: YouTube.com/@SansadTV


Of course, if you're watching on TV, you can head to the Doordarshan and Sansad TV channels to catch the Interim Budget presentation.


ABP Live will also be providing all the latest updates, analyses, and live stream of the Budget presentation. Stay tuned to news.abplive.com for all your needs.


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