Economy

Budget 2019: Here's what you need to know about Outcome Budget

Updated : January 31, 2019 12:46 PM IST

The Outcome Budget acts as a progress card of the performance of ministries, aiming to monitor and control the expenditure in order to bring about a discipline in the expenditure.

The first Outcome Budget meeting was held, on August 25, 2005.

However, since financial year 2007, the Outcome Budget has been a part of the main budget.

During the Union Budget of 2005-06, former finance minister P Chidambaram, had said, "we shall put in place a mechanism to measure the development outcomes of all major programmes".

After three months, the first Outcome Budget meeting was held, on August 25, 2005.

The Outcome Budget acts as a progress card of the performance of ministries, aiming to monitor and control the expenditure in order to bring about a discipline in the expenditure.

However, since financial year 2007, the Outcome Budget has been a part of the main budget.

The ministries are required to submit a preliminary Outcome Budget report on estimates of expenditure. The preliminary report helps the government examine the expenditure before it is made, hence making the planning of a programme easier and cutting down on unnecessary expenses.

The report becomes a tool to take note of the development outcomes of all government programmes and whether the money spent for the purpose was sanctioned, among other details.

The ministries are required to submit their Outcome Budget report to the finance ministry. The Ministry of Finance further compiles them. The government then revises the targets to a more doable one and tries to achieve the same by the end of the financial year.