Budget 2026: A look at Nirmala Sitharaman’s longest and shortest Budget speeches

Union concern curate Nirmala Sitharaman connected Sunday presented her ninth consecutive Union Budget code successful the Lok Sabha, clocking a duration of 1 hr and 25 minutes. The code laid retired the government’s fiscal roadmap for 2026‑27, covering spending plans, taxation proposals, and argumentation priorities, marking 1 of the astir intimately watched events connected India’s economical calendar.Sitharaman, who became concern curate connected May 31, 2019, present holds the grounds arsenic the longest-serving concern curate successful continuous office, completing six years and 8 months successful the role. Prime Minister Narendra Modi described her ninth consecutive Budget presumption arsenic “a infinitesimal of pridefulness successful India’s parliamentary tradition.”Over the years, the duration and benignant of her Budget speeches person varied. Her archetypal Budget successful 2019, the Modi government’s maiden presentation, lasted 2 hours and 8 minutes, making it the longest connected grounds astatine the time.

She became lone the 2nd pistillate successful autarkic India to contiguous the Union Budget and the archetypal full-time pistillate concern curate to bash so. The code featured couplets successful Urdu, Hindi and Tamil and replaced the accepted leather briefcase with a reddish cloth ‘bahi-khata’.In 2020, Sitharaman delivered India’s longest Budget code successful autarkic history, moving astir 2 hours and 39 minutes, earlier ending somewhat aboriginal owed to feeling unwell.

The 2021 Budget lasted 1 hr and 50 minutes and saw a absorption connected wellness and infrastructure, framed astir six pillars including well-being, infrastructure, inclusive development, quality capital, innovation, and governance. The 2022 Budget ran 1 hr and 32 minutes and outlined a semipermanent roadmap for the Amrit Kal, with an accent connected nationalist concern and infrastructure modernisation, presented successful a brownish Bomkai saree from Odisha.The 2023 Budget lasted 1 hr and 27 minutes and introduced the Saptarishi vision, guiding the state done Amrit Kaal with 7 priorities ranging from inclusive improvement to greenish growth, and marked the archetypal clip a pistillate concern curate presented the Budget to a pistillate president. 2024 included some an Interim Budget of 56 minutes and a afloat Budget of 1 hr 22 minutes, surpassing Morarji Desai’s record. The 2025 Budget underlined a absorption connected Garib, Yuva, Annadata, and Nari, lasting conscionable 1 hr and 14 minutes, her shortest afloat Budget code to date.This year, Sitharaman announced an summation successful the superior expenditure (capex) people to Rs 12.2 lakh crore for FY27, up from Rs 11.2 lakh crore successful the existent fiscal year. The fiscal shortage is expected to constrictive somewhat to 4.3 per cent of GDP, down from 4.4 per cent projected for 2025–26, portion nett taxation receipts are estimated astatine Rs 28.7 lakh crore.The full size of the Union Budget has been pegged astatine Rs 53.5 lakh crore. The wide authorities debt-to-GDP ratio stood astir 85 per cent successful 2024, including 57 per cent attributed to cardinal authorities debt.Historically, different long-serving concern ministers see Morarji Desai, who presented the Budget 10 times, and P Chidambaram, who did truthful 9 times, though neither delivered them consecutively.