Traditional 'halwa' ceremony kicks off final phase of Budget preparations

New Delhi, July 16: The traditional 'halwa' ceremony, marking the final stage of the preparation process for Union Budget 2024-25, was held at North Block on Tuesday in the presence of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, and senior officials.

A customary 'halwa' ceremony is performed every year before the ‘lock-in’ process of officials involved in the Budget preparations begins. The Budget 2024-25 is to be presented on July 23.

All Union Budget documents, including the Annual Financial Statement (commonly known as Budget), Demand for Grants (DG), Finance Bill, etc., will also be available on the 'Union Budget Mobile App' for easy access to documents by the Members of Parliament.

According to a Finance Ministry statement, the app is bilingual (English & Hindi) and will be available on both Android and iOS platforms. It can also be downloaded from the Union Budget web portal (www.indiabudget.gov.in).

The Budget documents will be available on the app after the completion of the Budget speech by the Finance Minister in the Parliament on July 23.

As part of the ceremony, Finance Minister Sitharaman also took a tour of the Budget press and reviewed the preparations besides extending her best wishes to the officials concerned.