Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman would make history presenting the eighth successive Union Budget on 1 February 2025. She would be the first finance minister who would deliver eight budgets in a row, equalling the record of former Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who presented the Budget eight times. This is going to be the second Budget of the third term for the BJP-led NDA government.
Sitharaman is the first full-time female Finance Minister of India. She joined office in July 2019 and gave her first budget for the same year. So far, she has presented seven regular budgets, and also presented one interim budget in February 2024. For her eighth consecutive budget, let’s review the legacy of the Union Budget in India.
Record Holders for Union Budget Presentations
While Nirmala Sitharaman will soon reach the record of consecutive budget presentations, the overall record for the presentation of Union Budgets by an individual remains that of Morarji Desai. He presented ten budgets in his tenure, among which two were of interim budgets. He was in office between 1959 and 1963, and again from 1967 to 1969. It is a distinction that Desai enjoyed for presenting six successive budgets, one that remained intact for more than five decades, until Sitharaman presented her sixth successive Budget in July 2024.
Other notable Finance Ministers
P. Chidambaram, one of the most senior Congress leaders, has been presenting the highest number of Union Budgets – nine in total. His first was in 1996, another in 1997, and five consecutive between 2004 and 2008.The two latest budgets were in 2013 and 2014.Total, eight: three in the early 1980s, five consecutively from 2009 to 2012 by Pranab Mukherjee.
With eight successive budgets now presented by her, Nirmala Sitharaman would become the first person to surpass Mukherjee’s record of presenting eight successive Union Budgets. In fact, having already broken the record earlier set by Morarji Desai when she presented six successive budgets up to July 2024, Sitharaman has also marked a niche in India’s financial annals.