Budget Session 2025: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman holds the record for the longest budget speech, will present the budget for the 8th time today
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget for the financial year 2025-26 in the Lok Sabha on February 1, marking her eighth consecutive budget. She has already made history by presenting the budget seven times in a row, including six full budgets and two interim budgets.
Before Sitharaman, the record for presenting the most budgets was held by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, and former Finance Ministers P. Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee. Morarji Desai, as Finance Minister, presented the budget 10 times. Between 1959 and 1964, he presented five full budgets and one interim budget consecutively, followed by four more budgets between 1967 and 1969.
Following Desai, P. Chidambaram presented the Union Budget nine times, while Pranab Mukherjee presented it eight times. On Saturday, Nirmala Sitharaman will match Pranab Mukherjee's record by presenting her eighth consecutive budget.
Notably, Sitharaman has presented all eight of her budgets under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. She became India's second female Finance Minister in 2019, following Indira Gandhi, who presented the Union Budget for 1970-71 as Finance Minister.
Sitharaman presented her first Union Budget in 2019. Between 2019 and 2024, she delivered two interim budgets and four full budgets. On July 23, 2024, after the Lok Sabha elections, she presented her seventh budget for the financial year 2024-25. With this, she surpassed Morarji Desai's record of presenting six consecutive budgets.
She also holds the record for the longest budget speech, lasting 2 hours and 42 minutes. In 2019, her budget speech for FY 2019-20 lasted 2 hours and 17 minutes. In 2020-21, she set a new record with a 2-hour 42-minute speech. For FY 2021-22, her speech lasted 100 minutes, while for FY 2022-23, it was 1 hour and 31 minutes. The final full budget of Modi 2.0 for FY 2023-24 was presented in a 1-hour 25-minute speech, while the interim budget for 2024 was completed in 60 minutes. Her speech for the FY 2024-25 budget lasted 1 hour and 25 minutes.
Once again, the nation is eagerly awaiting Sitharaman’s budget speech—how long she will present it and what key announcements she will make for the people of India.
