Consolidated fund and Contingency fund

Consolidated Fund of India

• Consolidated Fund of India is an account in which all the revenues received by the central government by way of direct and indirect taxes, borrowings and receipts from loans, repayments of loans are credited.
• All the central government expenditures, except the exceptional items which are met from Contingency fund or the Public Account of India, are made from this fund, though only after obtaining parliamentary approval.
• Article 266 provides for the consolidated fund of India.
• Article 266 (1) provides for the consolidated fund of each state.

Contingency Fund of India

• Contingency Fund of India is a special fund from which the President of India can make advances to meet urgent unforeseen expenditures in case of any contingency.
• It has a fixed corpus of 500 crores. The government will have to obtain authorization from the parliament later on.
• Article 267 provides for the contingency fund of India.
• Article 267(1) provides for contingency of each state.

Public account of India

• Public account of India is an account in which all the public money (other than those covered under the Consolidated Fund of India) received by or on behalf of the Indian government are credited.
• The government does not need parliament’s permission to make advances from this account. Such payments are mostly in the nature of banking transactions.
• Article 266(2) provides for the Public account of India.