Budget throwback: A look at Independent India's first Union Budget

Interim Budget 2024: Here's what you need to know about India's first budget

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will stand up in Parliament tomorrow to present the Union Budget. This year’s annual financial statement is slightly different as it is an interim budget. Till now, India has witnessed 77 regular Budgets and 14 interim Budgets. In total, 91 Union Budgets were placed in Parliament to date and this year will be the 92nd Union Budget. Here's what you need to know about India's first budget:

Budget 2024: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, flanked by other ministers, speaks to the media after he arrived at the Parliament on the first day of its budget session in New Delhi. (AP)

1. The first Budget was presented in 1860 by Scottish economist James Wilson who introduced income tax collection.
2. Independent India’s first Budget was presented by first Finance Minister RK Shanmukham Chetty on 26 November 1947- three months after India attained freedom from the British.
3. India’s first Budget too was an interim Budget as it is this year.
4. Shanmukham Chetty was born into a business family of Coimbatore in 1892. He studied economics at Madras Christian College and graduated in law from Madras Law College, making an entry into politics after completing his education.
5. He was appointed as the country’s first finance minister by Jawaharlal Nehru.
6. On 26 November 1947 Shanmukham Chetty delivered the first Budget of free India.
7. The budget was then presented at 5pm unlike now when it is presented at 11am.
8. In his speech, Shanmukham Chetty said, “I rise to present the first budget of a free and independent India. This occasion may well be considered as a historical one, and I count it as a rare privilege that it has fallen to me to be the finance minister to present this Budget.”
9. He also talked about his concern over rising prices mainly due to “accumulation of surplus purchasing power in the hands of the community as well as all round fall in production, both industrial and agricultural”.
10. India's first budget targeted budget revenue of ₹171.15 crore. Moreover, the total expenditure for that year was estimated at ₹197.29 crore.