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How long can Union Budget speech last? 162 mins to 800 words, a look at key records
The Budget session will begin with President's address, with the first phase starting on January 28. FM Sitharaman's speech in 2025 went on for 1 hour 14 mins.
The Union Budget will be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to the Parliament on Sunday, February 1, 2026 at 11 am. This is the first time that the budget is being presented on a Sunday, in adherence with the February 1 tradition which has been followed over the past few years under PM Narendra Modi.
The parliament's budget session will begin with President Droupadi Murmu's address, and the first phase on January 28, concluding on February 13. The second phase of the session will begin on March 9 and continue till April 2.
This will be Sitharaman's ninth budget presentation, which is the most for any finance minister. Earlier, Morarji Desai held this record with six consecutive budget presentations.
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Speeches while presenting the Union Budget usually take between 90 and 120 minutes, although several speeches have exceeded this mark, and some have fallen short of it.
Sitharaman's speech in 2025 went on for one hour and 14 minutes.
Longest budget speeches in Parliament
• Nirmala Sitharaman (2020–21) - Sitharaman has given the longest Union Budget speech in the history of India, wherein she spoke for 2 hours and 42 minutes, or simply 162 minutes, in 2020. The speech was given between 11 am and 1:40 p.m, and included important announcements like LIC's IPO and the introduction of a new income tax system.
However, she was unable to duly complete her speech because she fell ill, following which Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla reportedly read the final two paragraphs on her behalf.
• Manmohan Singh (longest by word count) - The longest budget speech by word count, with 18,700 words, was given by the then finance minister Manmohan Singh in the 1991 budget presentation. This was a key budget in India's history as it moved the country towards economic liberalisation.
• Nirmala Sitharaman (2019-20) - Sitharaman's 2020 budget speech lasted 2 hours and 17 minutes, and was her second longest budget address. This was her first budget address which set a new record at the time, but she later broke it herself. In this budget, the government introduced advantages for pre-filing of income tax returns and MSME units.
• Jaswant Singh (2003-04) - The then finance minister Jaswant Singh of the BJP gave a budget address of 2 hours and 13 minutes in 2003. During the speech, Jaswant Singh announced e-filing of income tax returns, and reduced excise and customs duties on some commodities, MoneyControl reported.
• Arun Jaitley (2014-15) - Arun Jaitley, in an address of 2 hours and ten minutes, presented the 2014 union budget. Under it, the Government of India declared additional All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to be established in the coming years, enhanced foreign direct investment (FDI) in defence to 49 per cent, and increasing the tax exemption slab from ₹2 lakh to ₹2.5 lakh.
Which was the shortest budget speech?
The then finance minister Hirubhai Mulljibhai Patel gave the shortest speech ever recorded, with about 800 words, for the 1977–1978 interim budget.
Current finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman's briefest budget presentation was in February 2024, when she addressed the session for 56 minutes for an interim budget.
