Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the full Indian budget on July 23. This will be the seventh time she will present the budget under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government. This year alone she presents her second Union Budget, the first time being in February, when the government held an interim budget owing to the election year.
India has seen over 30 finance ministers present the budget in the parliament since it attained independence in 1947. Some of these ministers have been in the pivotal more than once and some have made history in serving as the longest finance ministers.
Also read: India Budget 2024: What did India’s first Budget look like?
As India gears up for the big day, here’s a look at India’s longest-serving finance ministers.
Nehru also presented a budget
A lesser-known fact about the history of Indian budgets is that prime ministers have also presented the document in the parliament in the past. This includes India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru who presented the Union Budget in 1958 after the then finance minister T. T. Krishnamachari was forced to resign from the cabinet.
Other prime ministers who took the finance minister’s platform to present the budget include Morarji Desai, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Manmohan Singh.
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Budget 2024: A look at India’s longest-serving finance ministers
