Budget 2024: Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman set to match Morarji Desai's record of budget speeches

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to match the record of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai by delivering her sixth consecutive budget on February 1.

Since July 2019, Sitharaman, the country's first full-time woman finance minister, has presented five complete budgets. With the upcoming interim budget presentation, she will surpass the five-budget streak of her predecessors, including Manmohan Singh, Arun Jaitley, P Chidambaram, and Yashwant Sinha.

Also Read | Interim budget should take up policy matters that can't wait

Here are the records in focus:

-- Morarji Desai, serving as finance minister, presented five annual budgets and one interim budget from 1959 to 1964. His tally of 10 budgets stands as the highest by any finance minister.

-- Following the ascension of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government in 2014, Arun Jaitley assumed the Finance Ministry and presented five consecutive budgets from 2014-15 to 2018-19.

-- On February 1, 2019, Piyush Goyal presented the interim budget for the fiscal year 2019-20.

-- After the 2019 general elections, Nirmala Sitharaman took charge of the finance portfolio, becoming the second woman to present the budget after Indira Gandhi, who delivered the budget for the financial year 1970-71.

Also Read | Interim Budget 2024: Can FM Sitharaman regulate data privacy and build consumer trust in the online marketplace?

Interim Budget

Interim budgets are typically presented when general elections are impending. The new government, expected to form around June, will subsequently introduce the final for the fiscal year 2024-2025 in July, regardless of whether the incoming government is new or a re-elected one.

Meanwhile, this also marks the conclusive budget of the second term of the Modi government.

The officials involved in the budget's formulation are currently in a 'lock-in' period, adhering to strict confidentiality measures for the final document. They will only emerge from this period following its official presentation on February 1. The commencement of their 'lock-in' coincided with the traditional 'halwa' ceremony held on January 24 this year.

Date, time, and Where to watch

Interim Budget 2024-2025 is scheduled to be tabled on February 1 by FM Nirmala Sitharaman and is expected to commence at 11 am.

You can watch FM Sitharaman's Budget speech live on the official channel of Parliament Sansad TV and Doordarshan. The live Budget 2023 telecast will also be available on their respective YouTube channels.

You can access the Budget 2024 documents in a "paperless form" through the Union Budget Mobile App. All essential Budget documents, including the Annual Financial Statement, Demand for Grants, and the Finance Bill as mandated by the Constitution, will be accessible on the app.

The bilingual app, available in English and Hindi, can be downloaded on Android, iOS, or from the Union Budget Web Portal. Following the conclusion of the Budget Speech by the Union Finance Minister in Parliament on February 1, 2024, these Budget documents will be promptly available on the Mobile App.