Budget 2024: A Look At Longest And Shortest Budget Speeches In Indian History

The first Union Budget in Independent India was presented by then Finance Minister RK Shanmukham Chetty in November 1947. Over the years, successive Finance Ministers have left their imprints on the Budget process.

This year, all eyes are on Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as she will present the Interim Budget in the Parliament on February 1. This will be her sixth Budget.

The full Budget for the financial year 2024-25 is likely to be presented in July after the new government takes over following the Lok Sabha elections.

Longest Budget Speech

With the 2024 general elections due in the next few months, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman may deliver a shorter-than-usual speech this year.

She currently holds the record for the longest Budget speech in India's history.

In 2020, Nirmala Sitharaman spoke for 2:42 hours while presenting the Union Budget. 

The Finance Minister had broken her own record. In the preceding year, she spoke for around 2:17 hours while presenting the Union Budget.

In 2022, Ms Sitharaman kept her Budget speech short and clocked one and a half hours. This was her shortest Budget speech ever since she became the Finance Minister in the second term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government.

Shortest Budget Speech

The record for the shortest Budget speech is held by former Finance Minister Hirubhai Mulljibhai Patel.

He presented the Union Budget in 1977 and his Budget speech contained 800 words.

The record for the lengthiest Budget speech in terms of word count was held by former Prime Minister and then Finance Minister Manmohan Singh in 1991. The veteran Congress leader had used 18,650 words in his Budget speech.