Hidden and Interesting Facts about the Union Budget- Check Here

Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister, will present the Union Budget 2023-24 on February 1. Here are some Interesting facts about the Union Budget.

When was the first Budget presented before independence?

The first budget of pre-independence India was presented to the British Crown on April 7, 1860, by Scottish economist and politician James Wilson of the East India Company.

When and who presented the first budget after Independence?

On November 26, 1947, then-Finance Minister R K Shanmukham Chetty presented India's first budget after independence.

Who gave the longest budget speech in India?

Nirmala Sitharaman, a four-time presenter, holds the record for delivering the longest speech, speaking for two hours and 42 minutes on February 1, 2020, while presenting the 2020-21 Union Budget. She had to cut her speech short because she only had two pages left. She broke her own record of two hours and 17 minutes set in July 2019 during her first Budget.

Which Finance Minister gave the shortest speech?

The 1977 Budget speech, delivered by then-Finance Minister Hirubhai Mulljibhai Patel, was only 800 words long.

Who has presented the highest number of budgets?

Former Prime Minister Moraraji Desai holds the record for having presented the most budgets in history. During his tenure as Finance Minister from 1962 to 1969, he presented ten budgets, followed by P Chidambaram (nine) and Pranab Mukherjee (eight).

Which budget is known as the Dream Budget?

P Chidambaram's 1997-98 budget was dubbed a "Dream Budget" because it used the Laffer Curve principle to lower tax rates in order to increase collections.

When was the black budget presented?

The budget presented by Yashwantrao B Chavan in 1973-74 was known as the "Black Budget" because the fiscal deficit that year was Rs 550 crore.

Why is the budget in a red briefcase?

The "budget case" tradition began in the 18th century, when Britain's budget chief, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was asked to "open the budget" while presenting his annual statement.