Nirmala Sitharaman: How Many Times Has She Presented Budget? Coveted Club of 5s Explained

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who joined a small group of legends including Manmohan Singh, Arun Jaitley, and P Chidambaram, is the sixth minister in independent India to present five consecutive budgets.

It is Sitharaman’s fifth consecutive budget since 2019 for the fiscal year beginning April 2023.

Who Else Have Presented 5 Budgets?

Arun Jaitley, P Chidambaram, Yashwant Sinha, Manmohan Singh, and Morarji Desai are additional ministers who have delivered five consecutive annual financial statements.

• Jaitley delivered five consecutive budget presentations from 2014–15 to 2018–19 after taking over the Finance Ministry in the Modi administration in 2014.
• Jaitley changed the custom from colonial times of delivering the budget on the last working day of February to the first working day of the month in 2017.
• Due to Jaitley’s illness, Piyush Goyal was given additional ministry responsibilities. He submitted the interim budget or vote on account for 2019–20.
• Sitharaman was assigned the Finance position in the Modi 2.0 Government following the 2019 general elections.
• With a variety of policy initiatives launched for the poor, India has weathered the COVID pandemic under Sitharaman and maintained its reputation as the fastest-growing major economy and a “bright spot” in the global economy.
• After Indira Gandhi, who did so for the fiscal year 1970–1971, Sitharaman presented the budget in 2019 to become the second woman to do so.
• In place of the customary budget briefcase that year, Sitharaman chose a “bahi-khata” with the National Emblem to hold the speech and other documents.

COVETED CLUB of FIVE CONSECUTIVE BUDGETS

P Chidambaram, a member of the Congress and Jaitley’s predecessor in the UPA government, presented five budgets in a row from 2004–05 to 2008–09.

The interim and final budgets for 1998–1999 were presented by Yashwant Sinha, finance minister of the BJP-led Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Four budgets, from 1999-2000 to 2002-2003, were provided by Sinha following the general elections in 1999.

The budget presentation period was moved from 5 pm to 11 am during Sinha’s tenure.

Manmohan Singh was given responsibility for the Finance portfolio under the Narasimha Rao administration, and from 1991–1992 to 1995–1996 he delivered budgets. India received a new path as a result of Singh’s 1991–1992 Budget, which included numerous economic changes to liberalise the economy.

Former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, who now holds the record for presenting the most budgets (10), five of which he did in a row. Throughout his tenure as finance minister, from 1959–1960 to 1963–1964 the five yearly budgets were submitted.

With PTI inputs

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