New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday made history as she presented a record eighth consecutive budget, which comes in the backdrop of a slowdown in the economy and demand for tax cuts for the middle class.
This will take Sitharaman closer to the record of 10 budgets that were presented by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai over different time periods. Desai has presented a total of 6 budgets during his tenure as finance minister from 1959 to 1964, and 4 budgets between 1967 and 1969.
Former finance ministers P Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee had presented nine and eight budgets, respectively, under different prime ministers.
Sitharaman, however, will continue to hold the record of presenting the maximum number of budgets on the trot – eight straight budgets under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
She was in 2019 appointed as India’s first full-time woman finance minister when Prime Minister Modi won a decisive second term. After Modi came back to power in 2024 for the third time, Sitharaman continued to retain her finance portfolio.
