The Budget is a detailed plan for a measured period, setting goals and outlining resources to meet them. It also gives details of tax revenues and other receipts besides a general break-up of expenditure, allocation of plan outlays by sectors as well as by various ministries.
But the complicated document has more technical words in it. Read on for explanations for some of them that feature in the hefty document.
AD-VALOREM DUTIES: Are the duties determined as a certain percentage of the price of the product.
APPROPRIATION BILL: A Bill that enables withdrawal of money from the Consolidated Fund to pay off expenses. These are instruments that Parliament clears after the demand for grants has been voted by the Lok Sabha.
BUDGET DEFICIT: A situation that arises when expenses exceed revenues. Here the entire budgetary exercise falls short of allocating enough funds to a certain area.
BUDGET ESTIMATES: Are estimates of Government spending on various sectors during the year, together with an estimate of the income in the form of tax revenues. These estimates contain an estimate of Fiscal Deficit and the Revenue Deficit for the year.
CAPITAL GOODS: Are goods that are used in the manufacturing of finished products.
CAPITAL BUDGET: Consists of capital receipts and payments, loans and advances granted by the Union Government to State and Union Territory governments, Government companies, corporations and other parties. This also accounts for Market loans, borrowings from the Reserve Bank of India and other institutions through the sale of Treasury Bills and loans acquired from foreign governments.
CAPITAL PAYMENTS: Are expenses incurred on acquisition of assets.
CAPITAL EXPENDITURE: Is the expenditure on acquisition of assets such as land, building and machinery, and also investments in shares, etc. Other items that also fall under this category include, loans and advances sanctioned by the Center to State governments, union territories and public sector undertakings.
CAPITAL RECEIPT: Are loans raised by the Government from the public (often referred to as Market loans); borrowings by the Governmentfrom the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and other parties through sale of Treasury Bills; loans received from foreign governments and bodies; and recoveries of loans granted by the Union Government to State governments, Union Territories and other parties. It can also include the proceeds from divestment of Government Equity in public enterprises.
CENVAT: A replacement for the earlier MODVAT scheme and is meant for reducing the cascading effect of indirect taxes on finished products. The scheme is a more extensive one with most goods brought under its preview.
COUNTERVAILING DUTIES: Are levied on imports that may lead to price rise in the domestic Market. It is imposed with the intention of discouraging unfair trading practices by other countries.
CONSOLIDATED FUND: Comprises of all revenues received byGovernment, the loans raised by it, and receipts from recoveries of loans granted by it.
CONTINGENCY FUND: Is the fund into which the Government utilises to meet emergencies or unforeseen expenditures, especially when it cannot wait for authorisation by Parliament. The Contingency Fund is placed at the disposal of the President for such financial exigencies. The amount that is withdrawn from the fund is recouped from Consolidated Fund.
CURRENT Account DEFICIT: Is the difference between the nation's exports and imports.
CUSTOM DUTIES: Levies on goods imported to or exported from the country.
CENTRAL PLAN: Centre's budgetary support to the Plan including the internal and extra budgetary resources raised by the Public Sector Undertakings.
DIRECT TAXES: Taxes directly imposed on the customers such as Income Tax and Corporate Tax.
DISINVESTMENT: Dilution of the Government�s stake in Public Sector Undertakings.
DEMAND FOR GRANTS: A statement of expenditure estimate from the Consolidated Fund that requires the approval of the Lok Sabha.
EXCISE DUTIES: Duties imposed on goods manufactured within the country.
FISCAL DEFICIT: Difference between the Revenue Receipts and Total Expenditure.
Finance BILL: Government�s plans for imposing new taxes, modifying of the existing tax structure or continuing the existing tax structure beyond the period approved by the Parliament.
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT: Total Market value of the goods and services manufactured within the country in a financial year.
GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT: Total market value of the finished goods and services manufactured within the country in a given financial year along with income earned by the local residents from investments made abroad, minus the income earned by foreigners in the domestic Market.
INDIRECT TAXES: Taxes imposed on goods that are manufactured, imported or exported. Eg. Excise Duties, Custom Duties etc.
MODVAT: Modified Value Added Tax, introduced in 1986, is a tax for allowing relief to final manufacturers on the excise duty borne by their suppliers for goods manufactured by them. It has now been replaced by the CENVAT scheme.
MONETISED DEFICIT: Level of support provided by RBI to Centre�s borrowing programs.
NATIONAL DEBT: Debt owed by the Government as a result of earlier borrowing to Finance budget deficits.
NON-PLAN EXPENDITURE: Consists of Revenue and Capital Expenditure on interest payments, Defence Expenditure, subsidies, postal deficit, police, pensions, economic services, loans to public sector enterprises and loans as well as grants to State governments, Union territories and foreign governments.
PEAK RATE: Is the highest rate of Customs Duty applicable on an item.
PERFORMANCE BUDGET: Is a compilation of activities of different ministries and departments.
PLAN EXPENDITURE: Money given from the Government�s Accountfor the Central Plan is called Plan Expenditure. It consists of both Revenue Expenditure and Capital Expenditure, Central Assistance to States and Union Territories.
PLAN OUTLAY: is the amount for expenditure on projects, schemes and programs announced in the Plan. The money for the Plan Outlay is raised through budgetary support and internal and extra-budgetary resources. The budgetary support is also shown as plan expenditure inGovernment accounts.
PRIMARY DEFICIT: Fiscal Deficit minus Interest payments.
PROGRESSIVE TAX: is a tax where the rich pay a larger percentage of income than the poor.
PUBLIC ACCOUNT: Is an Account where money received through transactions not relating to consolidated fund is kept.
REGRESSIVE TAX: Is a tax in which the poor pay a larger percentage of income than the rich. Progressive Tax is the exact opposite of regressive tax.
REVENUE DEFICIT: Is the difference between Revenue Expenditure and Revenue Receipts.
REVENUE BUDGET: Consists of Revenue Receipts and Revenue Expenditure of the Government.
REVISED ESTIMATES: Is the difference between the Previous Budget Estimates and the actual expenditure, which is usually presented in the following Budget.
REVENUE EXPENDITURE: Expenditure that does not result in the creation of assets. This refers to the money spent on the normal functioning of the government departments and various other services such as interest charges on debt incurred by the Government.
REVENUE RECEIPT: consist of tax collected by the government and other receipts consisting of interest and dividend on investments made by government, fees and other receipts for services rendered by Government.
REVENUE SURPLUS: Is the excess of Revenue Receipts over Revenue Expenditure. It is the opposite of Revenue Deficit,
SUBSIDIES: Financial aid provided by the Center to individuals or a group of individuals to improve their skills or businesses.
TARIFF: Tax on imports.
TWIN DEFICITS: refers to the trade deficit and the Government budget deficit
VALUE-ADDED TAX: is a tax levied on a firm as a percentage of its value added, to avoid the multiplying effect of taxes as the product passes through different stages of production. The tax is based on the difference between the value of the output and the value of the inputs used to produce it. The aim is to tax a firm only for the value added by it to the inputs it is using for manufacturing its output.
