NEW DELHI: The government is considering options of either switching over to a January-December financial calendar, or advancing the budget to early January while sticking to the April-March financial year, as New Delhi seeks to ensure better utilisation of funds allocated to various projects under the federal watch. "We are looking at options-...One of them is to change the financial year (now running April to March) to the calendar year: For that, the budget will have to be advanced to November," a senior government official said. The other option, he said, is to continue with the current April-March financial year and advance the budget date to early January to ensure early completion of the exercise as well to ensure allocated funds are disbursed and expensed right from start of the next fiscal year. "No decision has yet been taken," the official said.Prime Minister Narendra Modi had flagged the subject at the recent meeting of the Niti Aayog governing Council. "The Prime Minister has said that a number of suggestions have come on changing the financial year.

Source: Economic Times May 03, 2017 19:52 UTC