NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet will on Wednesday consider the finance ministry’s proposals to reform the entire budgetary process, including advancing the date of budget presentation, merging the Railway budget with general budget and dropping the plan and non-plan distinction.The finance ministry has proposed that the budget be presented on February 1 as opposed to the current practice of last working day of February, allowing the process to be completed before the new financial year begins, a senior government official told ET.Under the current system, the budget process is usually over by mid-May, which delays the start of the spending process in the new financial year that begins on April 1. If the budget is presented one month early, the process can be over by the time the fiscal year starts.This will mean that the winter session of Parliament will have to be advanced. Since this is a political consideration, the proposal is likely to be examined by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs.The budget session could begin just after the Republic Day or even a day earlier, on January 25. The presentation of the Economic Survey would start the process.This will imply that the budget process will have to begin a month earlier as opposed to end-September now, and the finance ministry will have to speed things up if the change in date is to be implemented from the coming budget.This will also require a change in India’s statistical calendar. The advance estimates of GDP for the year that are released on February 7 annually are used for calculations that go into the budget.The nominal GDP is the most relevant as it goes into calculating the most-watched fiscal deficit numbers. The presentation of advance GDP numbers will also need to be advanced by a month to January 7, though the downside will be that numbers are likely to be less accurate.Similarly, the mid-year review of spending by ministries and departments would need to be completed a month ahead, by the end of November.The plan envisions that Parliament should pass the Appropriation Bill and the Finance Bill by March 24 so that proposals can start from April 1.As per the plan, Parliament would get a three-week break — starting sometime in the second week of February — for various parliamentary committees to vet the proposals.If the government sticks to the April 1 deadline for the goods and services tax, the budget would become simpler with indirect taxes replaced by a single GST.The Cabinet will also consider merging the Railway budget with the general budget and the attendant implications. Under the proposal, the Railways would become a departmentally run commercial undertaking retaining its distinct identity and a reasonable degree of financial autonomy.The budget items that distinguished it from other such undertakings will be dropped. The concept of capital at charge, a measure of capital support provided by the government, will be removed and the railways would not be required to pay dividends on such capital.It would continue to get budgetary support from the general budget for its capital spending. The subsidy burden of the railways in this case will fall on the general budget and for better targetting of that, it is proposed the concessional passes be Aadhaarlinked.The Cabinet will also consider the proposal to do away with the distinction between plan and non-plan expenditure, a process on which work has already begun.Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced the decision in his budget speech last year. The Cabinet will also consider a proposal to put out outcome-based budgeting estimates as part of the process.