The hectic activity involving the preparation of the Union Budget, to be presented to Parliament on February 28, seems to be telling on Finance Minister Jaswant Singh's health.

He has rescheduled his visit to Davos in Switzerland, where finance ministers and economists from across the globe assemble to attend the World Economic Forum's annual meet every year.

The postponement of his visit has been attributed to his pre-occupation with the Budget exercise.

"It is telling upon my health, but I will sustain it," the finance minister is also said to have told the bureaucrats engaged in the Budget-preparation exercise. The former soldier keeps himself fit through hour-long limbering up exercises and a strict regimen on the treadmill.

He was scheduled to have left with his team for Switzerland on January 18. However, at the last moment, he postponed his visit to Thursday (January 23) by which time he proposes to complete some pending Budget work.

According to his earlier itinerary, he was to spend two days in London with relatives and friends, but in light of the new development that plan now stands cancelled.

The seven-member team, led by Jaswant Singh, will now spends just a single day in Davos at the WEF meeting to put across India's views. The team will then immediately fly back home.

Bureaucrats said that the finance minister will spend more time aboard aircraft than at the WEF meeting.

The finance minister is keen to clear the business at hand before taking up any new engagements. He reportedly told his team of bureaucrats: "When intense cold persists, let the Budget heat be generated."

The offices of the finance ministry were abuzz even last Sunday (January 19), with the hectic Budget exercise keeping finance ministry officials from taking a weekend break. Saturdays and Sundays are additional working days now for those involved in the Budget-making exercise. For some who were hoping to get a Sunday off -- with Jaswant Singh scheduled to have left for Davos on Saturday -- were bitterly disappointed.

Sources said that the finance minister is keen to present a 'perfect Budget,' and feel that he might even ask some of the senior officials to drop out of the Davos trip to take care of the Budget exercise.