The Railway Budget was merged with the Union Budget in 2017, ending a practice that began in 1924 under British rule.
A Niti Aayog commission submitted a white paper recommendation to do away with the practice of a separate Railway Budget. The recommendation was submitted to then Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu. The minister then wrote a letter to then finance minister the late Arun Jaitley to merge the Railway and Union Budgets for the welfare of the Railways and the Indian economy.
Arun Jaitely brought this up in 2016 at the Rajya Sabha and a special committee was constituted to plan the merger of both Budgets.
As per the Niti Aayog recommendations, over the years, the Railway Budget had shrunk significantly, and therefore, a separate Budget was not required. Recommendations also stated that the British started this practice in 1924 because a significant part of the government revenues and the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was dependent on Railway revenues. India was the only country with a separate Railway Budget.
In 2017, Arun Jaitley presented the first combined Union Budget, and the practice has been followed since.
This year, the Union Budget will be presented on Feb 1, 2023 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.