The secure press that used to print the Union Budget and Economic Survey is set to get a new home in the Central Vista, with the government planning to accommodate the facility on the ground floor of the under-construction Kartavya Bhawan 9.The move is part of the redevelopment of the Central Vista and comes as the government works through the practical difficulties of relocating a specialised printing facility that has historically been kept within the Finance Ministry’s premises.The Delhi Urban Art Commission, at its meeting on July 16, approved a revised plan for the Kartavya Bhawan 8 and 9 project. According to our sources, the minutes of the meeting recorded that Budget Press was added in the ground floor of Kartavya Bhawan 9.Kartavya Bhawan 8 and 9 are being constructed on Maulana Azad Road at the site of the old Vice President’s House and Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, both of which have been demolished. The two buildings are among 10 secretariat buildings being constructed as part of the Central Vista redevelopment.The proposed location is significant because the Budget Press is not an ordinary government printing facility. The printing of the Union Budget is carried out under tight security, with the officers involved being “locked in” on the premises from the start of printing until the Finance Minister presents the Budget in Parliament.The need to keep the printing facility secure within the Finance Ministry’s premises was felt decades back. The Union Budget for 1956-57 was leaked from the printing press, which was then located at Rashtrapati Bhawan. Following the incident, the Finance Ministry decided that the Budget Press should operate from within its own premises at North Block.That arrangement continued for years, until the Central Vista redevelopment began changing the location of key government offices.Last year, the Finance Ministry moved out of North Block into Kartavya Bhawan 1. But the existing Budget Press machinery could not simply be moved with it. The machines were too heavy and there were constraints on the available space.The Finance Ministry subsequently floated a tender on September 2, 2025, for new and lighter printing machines that could be installed in the space available at Kartavya Bhawan 1.The technical problem was not limited to the size of the new facility. In file notings accompanying the tender, the ministry noted, “Additionally, the load-bearing capacity of the floors, particularly on the ground level, was found to be inadequate for heavy-duty post-press machines such as paper-cutters and trimmers. These technical limitations necessitated a re-evaluation of the machinery options originally proposed.”The transition was still incomplete when preparations began for the Union Budget 2026-27 in February this year. The new press at Kartavya Bhawan 1 was still under trial, and the Budget was consequently printed at North Block.The arrangement at North Block, however, is no longer expected to continue. Officials said the old Budget Press there has been dismantled as the building is being renovated into a museum. The press at Kartavya Bhawan 1 has since been installed.This leaves the government with a functioning press at KB 1 while also planning for a longer term facility at KB 9.Officials said the allotment of space for the Budget Press would be made once the new building is completed. But with the Finance Ministry potentially moving into Kartavya Bhawan 9, the Central Public Works Department has designed the building with space for the secure printing facility.The proposed shift therefore reflects more than a change of address. It follows a chain of decisions triggered by the Central Vista redevelopment, the relocation of the Finance Ministry, the physical limitations of the earlier machinery and the requirement that the Budget printing process remain under strict security.The Housing and Urban Affairs and Finance Ministries did not respond to emails seeking comment.With Kartavya Bhawan 9 still under construction, the final allocation of the space remains tied to completion of the building. For now, the government’s plan places the future Budget Press alongside the Finance Ministry’s proposed new Central Vista home, bringing a facility whose location has been shaped by one of India’s most sensitive annual government processes into the next phase of the redevelopment.