The Indian Budget

THE Indian Budget for 1926-27, which was introduced by the Finance Member at Monday’s meeting of the Legislative Assembly, has no exciting features. The first remark it calls for is the obvious one, that for the fourth year in succession, the Government of India has a surplus instead of a deficit budget. For five years, it had an accumulated actual deficit of nearly Rs 100 crore. In 1923-24, the financial tide turned, and instead of a deficit it had a welcome surplus of Rs 2.39 crore. The next year, it did still better with a surplus of Rs 5.68 crore. This year, it budgeted for a small surplus of Rs 24 lakh, but the revised estimates increase the surplus to Rs 1.30 crore, which may be still further increased in the actuals. Lastly, the Budget for the ensuing year estimates the revenue at Rs 133.43 crore and the expenditure at Rs 130.38 crore, leaving a substantial surplus of Rs 3.5 crore. The second important feature of the Budget is the final disappearance of the already suspended cotton excise duty. This was so generally anticipated that the actual announcement will cause no shock of agreeable surprise. In the words of the Finance Member himself, “The patient died on December 1, 1925, and it only remains for us to assist at his obsequies and give the corpse decent interment. We have no need to fear even its unlamented ghost.” No miracle can, indeed restore it to life at this time; not even “some unthinkable accident in the passing of the Finance Bill.” With a touch of humour, both conscious and unconscious, the Finance Member said “the privilege of sharing with the Government in the credit for this historic achievement will belong to the Legislature, when the Finance Bill is passed.”