Secrecy in budget making should be abolished: Yashwant Sinha

Former Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha on Tuesday pitched for reforming the Budget making exercise, saying secrecy surrounding it should be done away with in the “era of transparency” and that any changes in excise and customs duties should come into effect only after Parliament passes them.

Sinha, who had presented five Budgets as Finance Minister, made the comments while addressing the city MLAs as part of an orientation programme on the upcoming Delhi Budget, following a request by Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel. “Secrecy surrounding Budget making should be abolished. There is no need for the secrecy,” he said. As per current norms, around 10-12 days ahead of presentation of the budget, officials and support staff involved in the Budget making are required to stay in the Finance Ministry. 

“Officials of Finance Ministry are locked... they are disconnected from outer world so that the Budget proposals are not leaked,” he said. 

He added that such precautions are taken as people may take benefit and gave example that traders may hike prices of certain products if they know about imminent customs duty hike.