Union Budget 2026 | FAQs: What is a revenue budget?

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget 2025 in the Lok Sabha on Sunday, February 1 at 11 am. This will be her ninth consecutive budget presentation.

As the day approaches, DH is releasing a series of explainers for key terms that will be used in the Budget speech and what they imply for your wallet and the country's economy.

In this article, we discuss the revenue budget.

What is a revenue budget?

A revenue budget is the sum of the government’s revenue receipts and expenditures. Receipts, essentially detailing the sources from where the revenue is coming to the government, are divided into two categories: tax and non-tax revenue.

Tax revenue includes a few major categories — corporation tax, tax on income, and also indirect tax such as GST, cess, import/export duties, etc.

Non-tax revenue includes the interest earned on the government’s investments, loans and income from other services it renders.

Revenue expenditure, on the other hand, details the government’s planned expenses in running its ministries and departments and also the services, welfare schemes, and social security programmes it offers to citizens — such as social security, pension, medical services via ESI and so forth.

It also includes the interest it paid on loans it has borrowed and what it spends to give necessary subsidies.

The total bill of the revenue receipts and expenditures is tabled during the presentation of the annual Union Budget. Generally, the government’s expenditure exceeds its income, creating a revenue deficit or fiscal deficit.