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Union Budget 2025: Parliament's longest and shortest budget speeches
On February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her eighth consecutive Union Budget.
On February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present the Union Budget 2025. This will be the eighth budget presentation by her, she has previously presented an interim and six regular budgets. Morarji Desai set the earlier record with six consecutive budget presentations.
Last July, the finance minister's 60-minute interim budget address was her shortest budget speech to date. In anticipation of the next address, let's examine the longest and shortest budget speeches in Indian history:
The longest budget speech in history
*2020-2021 Nirmala Sitharaman: 2 hours 42 minutes
The longest budget speech in the history of the nation was given by Nirmala Sitharaman. Her two-hour, 42-minute speech was given in 2020 between 11 a.m. and 1:40 p.m. She made important announcements including LIC's IPO and a new income tax system. She was unable to complete the speech, though, because she fell ill. On her behalf, Om Birla, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, read the final two paragraphs, as reported by NDTV.
Her previous year's record of two hours and 17 minutes speech was broken in 2020. Sitharaman delivered a shorter budget address in 2022, which lasted an hour and thirty minutes.
Also read: Who will present Union Budget 2025?
*2019–20 Nirmala Sitharaman: 2 hours and 17 minutes
Nirmala Sitharaman's Union Budget 2020 speech was her second longest budget address following her appointment as Finance Minister in 2019. At two hours and 17 minutes, her first budget address in 2019 set a new record. The pre-filing of income tax returns and MSME advantages were introduced in this budget.
*2003-2004 Jaswant Singh: 2 hours 13 minutes
Jaswant Singh spoke for two hours and thirteen minutes during his 2003 budget address. During his address, Singh announced e-filing of income tax returns, reduced excise and customs duties on some commodities, and advocated universal health insurance, reported by Money Control.
* 2014-2015 Arun Jaitley: 2 hours 10 minutes
In the 2014 Union Budget, the government declared that additional All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will be established in the upcoming years, enhanced foreign direct investment (FDI) in defence to 49%, and raised the tax exemption slab from ₹2 lakh to ₹2.5 lakh. In a two-hour and ten-minute address, Arun Jaitley delivered the budget.
The longest budget speech, with 18,700 words, was given by former Finance Minister Manmohan Singh in the 1991 budget presentation, if we consider the word count.
Also read: Why was Union Budget date moved to February 1?
Shortest budget speech in history
With about 800 words, former finance minister Hirubhai Mulljibhai Patel gave the shortest speech ever recorded for the 1977–1978 interim budget.
Although the date might be changed to accommodate weekends or public holidays, the Union Budget is normally delivered in February. Notably, even though Budget Day falls on a Saturday, February 1, the stock market will be open.
