Budget 2025: Longest And Shortest Union Budget Speeches In History

The Union Budget is a reflection of the country's economic goals and priorities for the forthcoming fiscal year. Over time, Budget speeches have evolved to address the changing needs and challenges of the nation. All eyes are now on Nirmala Sitharaman, who has been at the helm of the Finance Ministry since 2019 and will present her eighth Budget on February 1.

Longest Budget Speech Ever

Nirmala Sitharaman holds the record for delivering the longest Budget speech in India's history. In 2020, her speech lasted 2 hours and 42 minutes.

During this marathon session, she introduced significant reforms, including a new income tax regime and announced the much-anticipated initial public offering (IPO) of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC). But midway through the address, Ms Sitharaman felt unwell, and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla stepped in to read the remaining two pages of the speech on her behalf.

The 2020 speech surpassed her record set in 2019 when she spoke for 2 hours and 17 minutes. Her 2024 interim Budget speech, clocked in at just 56 minutes, was her shortest since taking office.

Shortest Budget Speech Ever

Former Finance Minister Hirubhai M Patel delivered the shortest Budget speech in 1977-78. Mr Patel's interim Budget speech contained just 800 words.

Longest Budget Speech By Word Count

In 1991, Finance Minister Manmohan Singh delivered a Budget speech of 18,650 words. It's still the longest Budget speech by word count. In 2018, Arun Jaitley's Budget presentation had 18,604 words, the second-longest speech by word count.