With the presentation of the Union Budget for 2024-25 next month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will set a new record. With the presentation of her seventh Budget, she will become the first finance minister in the country’s history who will deliver seven consecutive Budgets.
Currently, she is matching the record set by former Finance Minister Morarji Desai, who had presented six budgets in a row. Once she presents Budget 2024 in the parliament, which is slated for the third week of July 2024 (per sources), she will surpass the record of Morarji Desai and will become first finance minister to present 7 budgets in a row. Nirmala Sitharaman has been a Union Minister in all three of the 2014, 2019, and 2024 Modi cabinets. She was sworn in as the Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs of Modi 3.0 cabinet in New Delhi, on June 12, 2024.
Nirmala Sitharaman became the country’s first full-time woman finance minister. She has already surpassed the five-Budget presentation record of Manmohan Singh, Arun Jaitley, P Chidambaram, and Yashwant Sinha. And with her sixth Budget presentation earlier this year, she matched Morarji Desai’s record of presenting six Budgets in a row approximately 60 years ago. Morarji Desai holds the record for the most Budgets presented by any Indian finance minister, totalling ten, for over 50 years. He was also the fourth Prime Minister of India from March 24, 1977, to July 28, 1979.
Meanwhile, Nirmala Sitharamn has served as the finance minister of the country for five years, during which she presented six budgets spanning 2019 to 2023, including the interim budget for 2024. Additionally, she also held the position of Minister of State for Finance for a period of six to seven months.