Image Source : PTI (FILE) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
Union Budget 2024: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present the Union Budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 on Tuesday, July 23. This will be her seventh consecutive budget presentation, surpassing the record previously held by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai.
This year will see two budgets: an interim one in February and a full budget this month. This arrangement is due to the fact that a full Budget cannot be presented just before general elections. The budget presentation on July 23 will be the first one by the BJP-led NDA government following its re-election last month.
Here are some facts related to Budget presentation
The Union Budget consists of two main components: the Annual Financial Statement, which details government revenue, and the Demand for Grants, which outlines the estimated expenditures.
India’s first-ever budget was presented on April 7, 1860, by Scottish economist James Wilson from the East India Company. It introduced income tax, a significant revenue source today.
The first-ever Union Budget of independent India was presented on November 26, 1947, by the nation’s first finance minister RK Shanmukham Chetty.
Former Prime Minister Morarji Desai holds the record for presenting the most budgets, having delivered a total of 10 budgets during his time as finance minister.
Nirmala Sitharaman holds the record for the longest budget speech, which lasted two hours and 40 minutes on February 1, 2020. She had to cut short her speech with two pages still remaining.
The shortest interim Budget speech was delivered by Hirubhai Mulljibhai Patel in 1977, consisting of just 800 words.
Manmohan Singh’s 1991 budget speech was the longest in terms of word count, totaling 18,604 words during the Narasimha Rao government.
Traditionally, the Union Budget was presented on the last day of February at 5 pm. This changed in 1999 when Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha moved the presentation to 11 am, a time that has since been maintained.
Until 1955, the Union Budget was presented only in English. The Congress government then decided to also print it in Hindi.
In 2017, the Budget presentation date was shifted to February 1 to complete the Parliamentary approval process by March-end and to implement the Budget from the beginning of the fiscal year on April 1.
The 2021-22 Budget was unique as it was presented entirely digitally due to the COVID-19 pandemic, marking a first for independent India.
Also Read: Budget 2024: FM Nirmala Sitharaman to break former PM Morarji Desai’s record | Here’s how
Also Read: Union Budget 2024: Who delivered longest budget speech in Parliament?
