‘Halwa’ ritual held, Budget app unveiled

The ceremony is used to mark the launch of the printing exercise for the Budget.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur and senior officials of the Finance Ministry on Saturday participated in the symbolic ‘Halwa Ceremony’ that marks the beginning of compilation of budget documents.

The ceremony used to mark the launch of the printing exercise for the Budget. This will be the first time since independent India’s first Budget on November 26, 1947, that the documents will not be physically printed.

The Finance Minister also launched the ‘Union Budget Mobile App’ for access of Budget documents by Members of Parliament and the general public.

The app facilitates access to 14 Budget documents as prescribed by the Constitution, the Ministry said in a statement.