Government Accounts in India

Classification of Government Accounting in India For a specific treatment of government accounts in India. The constitution of India has clearly provided for three funds or accounts:

Contingency fund of India (Art.267)

• Held by the President of India. (doesn’t mean President carries the chequebook. This is operated – by finance Secretary).
• President can spend cash from this fund- for emergency/unforeseen circumstances
• Without the authorization of parliament.

Public Accounts of India (Art.266)

This is made up of:

• bank savings account of the departments/ministries (for day to day transactions)
• National Investment fund (money earned from disinvestment, goes here)
• National Calamity & contingency fund (NCCF) (for disaster Management)
• National small savings fund, defense fund.
• Prarambhik Shiksha Kosh, MNREGA fund
• Provident fund, Postal insurance etc.
  and so on

Ques Note– Does government need parliament’s permission to spend money from here? – Nope.

Consolidated fund of India (Art.266)

This fund/basket is filled by

• all the cash from direct and indirect taxes
• all the loans taken by government of India
• Whenever someone returns principle/interest of the loans given by Government of India.

Related MCQs

Q-1.  Which of the following is not a source of tax revenue of government?
a)  Export and imports
b)  Goods and Services produced
c)  Inter-governmental aids
d)  Income of individuals and corporations

Q-2 Transactions relate to debt other than those included in the Consolidated Fund of India are kept in which among the following?
a) Debt Account
b) Public Account
c) Contingency Fund
d) Debt Fund

Q-3.  Who audits the receipts and expenditures of Consolidated Fund of India?
a)  Finance Secretary
b)  Finance Minister
c)  Comptroller and Auditor General
d)  Prime Minister

Q-4.  Income from Treasury Bills issued by government will be stored in –
a)  Consolidated Fund
b)  Contingency Fund
c)  Public Account
d)  Any of these

Q-5 Approval of which among the following authorities alone would be sufficient to draw funds from Consolidated Fund of India ?
a) Only Parliament
b) Only President
c) Either Parliament or President
d) Both Parliament and President

Q-6.  Withdrawal from which of the following account will require authorization of Parliament?
a)  Consolidated Fund
b)  Contingency Fund
c)  Public Account
d)  All of the above

Q-7.  Which of the following account acts as an imprest account of the government?
a)  Consolidated Fund
b)  Contingency Fund
c)  Public Account
d)  None of the above

Q-8.  Who has the authority of expenditure from Contingency Fund of India?
a)  Prime Minister
b)  President
c)  Finance Secretary
d)  Parliament

Q-9.  Public money from National Pension Scheme (NPS) (government is liable to repay to the individual) will be stored in which account?
a)  Consolidated Fund
b)  Contingency Fund
c)  Public Account
d)  None of the above

Q-10.  What is the fixed corpus of Contingency Fund of India?
a)  Rs. 50 crore
b)  Rs. 100 crore
c)  Rs. 500 crore
d)  Rs. 1,000 crore

Q-11.  Expenditure from which of the following funds does not require any authorization, either prior or post, of the Parliament?
a)  Consolidated Fund
b)  Contingency Fund
c)  Public Account
d)  Both (b) and (c)

Note that Post authorization of Parliament is required for Contingency Fund, to resume the spent money in it.

Q-12.  Expenditure from which of the following funds does not require any prior authorization of the Parliament?
a)  Consolidated Fund
b)  Contingency Fund
c)  Public Account
d)  Both (b) and (c)