Cabinet approves merger of Railway Budget with Union Budget

TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi-The 92-year-old practice of presenting a separate Railway Budget will come to an end from the next fiscal with the Union Cabinet approving the decision to merge it with the General Budget, media reports say.

The move will come as a relief to the national transporter, which, until now, has been reeling under an additional burden of Rs 40,000 crore from higher salaries, following implementation of the 7th Pay Commission.

It also has to bear close to Rs 35,000 crore of subsidy burden. If the merger goes through, the Railways will get rid of the annual dividend it has to pay for gross budgetary support from the government.