The government wants to align this to global practice of January 1 to December 31.A seemingly straight forward step at adopting a global benchmark? So if the government would shift to calendar year from financial year: that would mean budget dates too will have to be changed. Read on.Modi government may make this shift in such a way that the next budget would be in November 2018. Add to that global uncertainties and domestic realities including state elections.The government would get more than a year to adjust to new realities. Like if GST comes in to play by June 2017 it will have more than 18-20 months before general elections are announced.

Source: Economic Times February 01, 2017 13:41 UTC