Definition of Money Bills
Official heading: “Definition of “Money Bills””
- Source edition
- The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2026)
- Source locator
- Part V, Article 110, printed pages 50–51
- Last human source-link check
- Not yet checked
- Last human legal review
- Not yet reviewed
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1. In One Sentence
Article 110 provides the precise constitutional criteria for what constitutes a Money Bill and makes the Speaker's certification of a Money Bill conclusive.
2. What It Means in Everyday Language
Article 110 contains the exhaustive constitutional definition of a 'Money Bill'. A bill is deemed a Money Bill if it contains ONLY provisions dealing with seven specified financial matters.
These matters under Clause (1) are: (a) the imposition, abolition, remission, alteration, or regulation of any tax; (b) the borrowing of money or giving of guarantees by the Union; (c) the custody of the Consolidated Fund or Contingency Fund of India, and payments into or withdrawals from those funds; (d) the appropriation of moneys out of the Consolidated Fund; (e) declaring any expenditure to be expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund; (f) the receipt, custody, or audit of public money; or (g) any matter incidental to those items.
Clause (2) clarifies that a bill is NOT a Money Bill merely because it imposes local fines, license fees, or local taxation for municipal purposes.
Clause (3) states that if any question arises whether a bill is a Money Bill, the decision of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha shall be final.
Clause (4) mandates that every Money Bill transmitted to the Rajya Sabha and presented to the President must bear the signed certificate of the Speaker that it is a Money Bill.
Constitutional Nuance: While the Speaker's certificate under 110(3) is declared final, the Supreme Court in the Aadhaar judgment (K.S. Puttaswamy, 2018) held that the Speaker's classification is subject to judicial review if a non-financial bill is colourably tagged as a Money Bill to bypass the Rajya Sabha.
3. Practical Illustrative Example
A government bill primarily restructures criminal investigation agencies but includes a incidental provision regarding administrative filing fees.
4. Important Limits, Qualifications & Exceptions
Article 110 sets strict substantive boundaries for provisions entitled to the truncated Money Bill procedure.
- Exhaustive list: Limited strictly to sub-clauses (a) through (g) of Clause (1).
- Incidental test: Incidental matters must genuinely relate to the core financial subjects.
- Speaker certification: Mandatory signed endorsement under Clause (4).
- Judicial reviewability: Speaker's certification is not immune from scrutiny for colourable compliance.
5. Operative Constitutional Text
6. Sources & Historical Assembly Deliberations
Assembly quotations are withheld until wording, dates, and attribution have been checked against the primary record.
- •Government of India (Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice) • Part V, Article 110, printed pages 50–51 • Human source-link check pending
Primary PDF accessed and transcribed with AI assistance on 14 October 2026. Formatting and amendment annotation markers are omitted; operative wording is retained. This is not human legal review. Later amendments and commencement notifications have not been comprehensively checked.