While previous governments have avoided introducing major changes in an Interim Budget, the regime at the Centre has often used this opportunity to woo voters and outline its economic policy vision for the next five years should India vote to keep it in power.

Earlier in November, LIC, which recorded a surplus of Rs 48,444 crore in the current fiscal, paid Rs 2,430 crore dividend to the government for the financial year 2017-18.

Jaitley said that there would be no job losses due to merger of the banks and that the move would create a bigger entity like the State Bank of India (SBI).

Protests by the farmers and promises given to them, increasing production and persisting low prices of farm produce, and a series of announcements that are yet to convert into farmers' welfare and better livelihood summarises what 2018 has been for Indian agriculture economy. 

Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Machine Learning, Big Data Analytics, Robotic Process Automation, and 3D Printing are increasingly becoming mainstream, cutting across industries.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the government will stick to the 3.3 per cent fiscal deficit target in the current financial year

The Finance Minister said that the deal is expected to closed by the March 31, 2019. A ministerial panel, including secretaries, is also working out modalities and pricing issues of the PFC-REC deal.

RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya compared government's 'myopic' economic policies to a T20 cricket match, in contrast to the long-term planning of a central bank, which he called a Test match.

Government's finances have shown improvement in August with fiscal deficit at 94.7 per cent of the Budget Estimate (BE), mainly on account of better expenditure management, as per the official data.