Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will script history today as she presents her eighth consecutive Union Budget, the highest number of back-to-back budgets presented by any of her predecessors in India's history. The Budget for the financial year 2025â26, the first under the Modi 3.0 government, marks yet another milestone in her tenure.
Sitharaman was appointed as India's first full-time woman Finance Minister in 2019, after PM Modi secured a second term. Since then, she has delivered seven straight budgets, including the interim budget in February 2024.
With today's presentation, she moves closer to the all-time record of 10 budgets held by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, who presented them over different periods between 1959 and 1969.
Desai presented six budgets during his tenure as Finance Minister from 1959 to 1964 and four more between 1967 and 1969. Other finance ministers with multiple budget presentations include P Chidambaram, who delivered nine budgets, and Pranab Mukherjee, who presented eight.
Manmohan Singh, who served as Finance Minister in the PV Narasimha Rao government, presented five budgets from 1991 to 1995.
Beyond setting records for consecutive budget presentations, Sitharaman also holds the distinction of delivering the longest budget speech in history.
Her 2020 budget speech lasted two hours and 40 minutes before she had to cut it short with two pages still remaining. In contrast, the shortest budget speech was delivered in 1977 by Hirubhai Mulljibhai Patel, who spoke just 800 words while presenting the interim budget.
The presentation of the Union Budget has evolved significantly over the years. Until 1999, it was traditionally presented at 5 pm, a practice inherited from the British era to align with announcements made in London.
The timing was changed by then Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, shifting the budget speech to 11 am.
Another major reform came in 2017 when the budget presentation date was moved from the last day of February to February 1. This change was made to ensure that the parliamentary approval process could be completed by March-end, allowing for the smooth implementation of the budget from the beginning of the new fiscal year on April 1.
As Finance Minister Sitharaman rises to present her eighth consecutive budget, expectations remain high for measures aimed at boosting economic growth, easing the financial burden on the middle class, and ensuring fiscal prudence.
The Union Budget for the financial year 2025-26 is set to be presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, 2025. This will be the second time Nirmala Sitharaman will be presenting a full-fledged budget under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's third term. She has presented six annual and two interim budgets under the NDA-led government.
The Union Budget is undoubtedly the most sensitive documents of the country, which has the country's debt and expenditures in detail. Although, India has maintained a clean track record of confidentiality with the budget, there were two times when the budget was leaked, according to several news reports.
The first Budget leak - 1947
The first budget was leaked when India had just attained independence from British Raj in August 1947, and then Prime Minster Jawaharlal Nehru had given Sir RK Shanmukham Chetty to present the budget.
He was ready to give India it's first budget for a seven month period on 26 November 1947. But before Chetty could present the budget at 5pm this was because politicians and officials wanted their counterparts in Britain to follow the details comfortably — it had been leaked, reported Firstpost.
But how did it leak? According to a report by The Gurdian, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Hugh Dalton told a journalist about the changes in taxes proposed in the Budget. When Dalton was on his way to the Commons chamber, he met with the Daily Star’s John Carvel and said, “No more on tobacco; a penny on beer; something on dogs and pools but not on horses; increase in purchase tax, but only on articles now taxable; profits tax doubled.”
This hit the streets in about 20 minutes, causing a huge uproar. Dalton eventually apologised and resigned from his post.
The second leak - 1950
Three years later, the budget was leaked again. This time around, it happened when the budget papers were being printed at theBhavan, the official residence of the President of India. The budget used to get printed at the same press and confidentially was never breached.
However, during the tenure of John Matthai serving as the second finance minster, the budget papers were leaked while at the press. Matthai had been accused of serving the interests of powerful people after which he resigned, reported News18.
Following this leak, the printing of the budget was then shifted out of the Rashtrapati Bhavan and moved to a government press on Minot road. In 1980, the printing of the budget was shifted to the North Block's basement of the Secretariat building.
Safeguarding the budget
Today, to keep the budget safe, the security has been enhanced. It is kept a secret until the papers arrive at Parliament and the finance minister of the country reads out the budget speech.
Officials who are involved in budget preparation are placed under a strict lock-in period, in which they are strictly isolated from the outside word, including their family and friends, to safeguard secrecy. They are prohibited from using phones and are only allowed to leave once the finance minister has finished presenting the Union Budget in parliament.
The budget which is now digitised, the number of printed copies has drastically reduced, further minimising the risk of leaks. Copies are only shared with the President, the Vice President, the Cabinet, and the copy to be tabled in Parliament. Additionally, call records, visitor logs, and staff movements are rigorously monitored to ensure no information is compromised.
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