• India’s budget will be presented on February 1


• The budget of 1948 and 1950 was passed


• What changes did the government make in its security policy?

Indian Budget Leak History: India’s budget for the financial year 2026-27 will be presented on February 1. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present it. Also the future of any country and its people depends on the annual budget of the government, which includes its plans and restrictions for the people. Therefore, the budget is kept completely secret before it is presented. However, there have been 2 times in Indian history when the budget was leaked before it was presented.

After India’s independence, the budgets of 1948 and 1950 were presented in 2 major events. It was the same budget whose confidential information had already been leaked. Some of the secret pages of the Union Budget were made public before they were presented to the press, which shocked the entire Indian government. After this incident, the government took several important steps to ensure the secrecy of the budget.

The country’s first budget after independence was to be presented on 26 November 1947. The first Prime Minister of the country, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, was responsible for its creation by Sir R.K. Handed over to Shanmukham Chetty. This budget was only for seven and a half months from 15 August 1947 to 31 March 1948. At that time, the British-era tradition in India was to present the budget at 5 p.m. However, before Chetty presented the budget, almost all of its information was leaked to the media.

According to the information received, the main reason for the budget leak was the British government. At that time, it was India’s first budget, so leaders and officials wanted to consult Britain. As a result, the budget papers were sent to the then British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Hugh Dalton, making the budget public before it was presented.

Subsequently, in 1950 also, the budget papers were printed in the Rashtrapati Bhavan press. The site was considered safe for sensitive government documents, but details of the financial proposals were leaked before the budget was tabled in Parliament. Although the details of who created the leak and how it was done were never officially revealed, the incident raised serious privacy concerns, especially as the economic structure of independent India was taking shape.

In 1950, the finance minister of India was John Mathai. The incident was considered the biggest administrative blunder of independent India and brought the government into disrepute. As a result, the finance minister had to resign from his post. A number of changes were made to ensure security and officials and staff involved were kept away from the outside world until the budget was presented.

This incident necessitated security changes. To avoid such a repeat in future, a more secure and secluded location was chosen for the printing of the Union Budget. Budget papers are now printed at the Government of India Press at Minto Road. Additionally, strict security measures were implemented, such as restricted access, sealed premises and the ‘lock-in’ tradition, under which officials involved in printing the budget remain isolated from the outside world until the budget is presented.