Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to script history on February 1 when she presents the Budget 2025. This will be Sitharaman's eighth consecutive budget, including an interim budget, which she presented in February 2024.
Sitharaman holds several records to her name, including being the first female to become the full-time Defence Minister and Finance Minister.
Sitharaman, who presented her first Union Budget in 2019, also holds the record for the longest Budget speech in India's history. On February 1, 2020, Nirmala Sitharaman spoke for 2 hours and 42 minutes while presenting the Union Budget, making it the longest in history.
She also holds the record for presenting the most successive budgets¡ªeight. Sitharaman also holds the distinction of presenting the most Union Budgets under the same Prime Minister.
Former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, who served as Finance Minister from 1959-1964 and 1967-1969, holds the record for presenting the most Union Budgets¡ª10.
Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has presented nine budgets, between 1996-1997, 1997-1998, 2004-2008, and 2012-2013, under three different Prime Ministers.
Former President of India Pranab Mukherjee, who was the Finance Minister from 1982-1984 and 2009-2012, had presented eight budgets under two different Prime Ministers.
It was under Sitharaman as Finance Minister that India ditched the colonial legacy of carrying the budget document in a briefcase. In 2019, Sitharaman replaced the budget briefcase with a 'bahi-khata', a red pouch to carry the Budget documents.
In 2021, Sitharaman introduced yet another change in the budget presentation by using a digital tablet for the first paperless, digital budget presentation in Indian history.
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