Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her sixth consecutive budget with a speech lasting 56 minutes, her shortest ever, equaling the record set by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai. Sitharaman is the first full-time woman Finance Minister of the country, having presented five full Budgets since July 2019. She has surpassed the records of her predecessors such as Manmohan Singh, Arun Jaitley, P Chidambaram, and Yashwant Sinha, all of whom had presented five Budgets in a row.

On the other hand, Desai, as Finance Minister, presented five annual Budgets and one interim Budget between 1959 and 1964. Former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, who holds the record for presenting 10 Budgets - the most by any finance minister — delivered six of them, including one interim, consecutively. The first Budget of Independent India was presented by the inaugural finance minister, R K Shanmukham Chetty.

After the 2019 general elections, in the Modi 2.0 Government, Sitharaman was assigned the finance portfolio.

She became the second woman to present a Budget after Indira Gandhi, who had presented the Budget for the financial year 1970-71.

That year, Sitharaman did away with the traditional budget briefcase and instead opted for a ‘bahi-khata’ with the National Emblem to carry the speech and other documents.

At 56 minutes, it was Sitharaman’s shortest budget speech. She also holds the distinction of delivering the longest budget speech at two hours and forty minutes in 2020. In 2019, as India’s first full-time woman finance minister, Sitharaman’s Budget speech lasted for two hours and 17 minutes. In 2021, her speech lasted for one hour and 50 minutes, followed by 92 minutes in 2022 and 87 minutes in 2023.

Dressed in a turquoise-coloured embroidered Kantha silk saree, Sitharaman delivered her speech, which was applauded at regular intervals by the treasury benches. The loudest cheer came when she remarked on the presentation of the full budget by “our government” in July. Sitharaman’s Budget speech made no mention of Tamil poets and thinkers, unlike previous occasions. However, she referred to Prime Minister Modi at least eight times and quoted from his speeches.

Before the Budget presentation, President Droupadi Murmu greeted Sitharaman and served her sweets. This gesture took place just before the Finance Minister entered parliament to present the Interim Budget 2024. The Rashtrapati Bhavan uploaded visuals on X, showing President Murmu serving a spoon of sweets to Ms. Sitharaman and wishing her the best.

“Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, along with Ministers of State Dr Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad and Shri Pankaj Chaudhary, and senior officials of the Ministry of Finance, called on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan before presenting the Union Budget. President Murmu extended her best wishes to the Union Finance Minister,” the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in the post on X.