Morarji Desai To Nirmala Sitharaman, A Look At Who Has Presented Most Budgets

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present her eighth consecutive Union Budget on February 1. This will be the second budget of the BJP-led NDA government's third term.

Ms Sitharaman, who assumed office as India's first full-time woman Finance Minister in July 2019, presented her maiden Budget the same year. She has since delivered seven consecutive budgets along with one interim Budget in February 2024.

Who has delivered the most number of budgets?

Morarji Desai, who served as finance minister from 1959 to 1963 and again from 1967 to 1969, holds the record for the most budgets presented by an individual - 10 in total, including two interim budgets.

He presented his maiden Budget on February 28, 1959, followed by full Budgets for the next two years. Then came an interim Budget in 1962, followed by two full Budgets. After four years, he presented another interim Budget in 1967, followed by three full Budgets in 1967, 1968, and 1969, bringing the total to 10.

P Chidambaram holds the record for presenting the second-highest number of Union Budgets, with a total of nine. He delivered his first Budget in 1996 during the United Front government, followed by another in 1997.

He presented five consecutive Budgets between 2004 and 2008 under the UPA government and two more in 2013 and 2014, bringing his total to nine.

This upcoming Budget will also see Nirmala Sitharaman break the record of Pranab Mukherjee, who presented a total of eight budgets -- three in the early 1980s and five consecutive ones from 2009 to 2012.

Who has the record for the most number of consecutive Budgets?

Nirmala Sitharaman will make history on February 1 by becoming the first person to present eight consecutive Union Budgets. On July 23, 2024, she surpassed Morarji Desai's record of presenting the Budget six times consecutively.