Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be presenting her fifth Union Budget on Wednesday, February 1, 2023. The formal proceedings for the Budget 2023 were kicked off by the Finance Ministry on January 26 by observing the traditional Halwa ceremony.
longest Budget speech
In 2020, Sitharaman set the record for the longest Budget speech when she presented the Union Budget 2020-2021 on February 1. With two pages remaining, she had to cut short her speech as she felt unwell after speaking non-stop for 2 hours and 42 minutes. The text of the speech totalled 13,275 words.
Second longest Budget speech
Sitharaman broke her record set in 2019 when she went on for 2 hours and 17 minutes in her maiden Budget speech. In 2021, the Finance Minister made the Budget paperless for the first time, presenting the document on a tablet. As a result, Sitharaman delivered her shortest Budget speech to date, lasting 1 hour and 40 minutes and totalling 10,500 words.
Sitharaman’s thoughts on her speeches
Sitharaman expressed dissatisfaction with the length of her 2020 speech at an industry event later that year. She had persistently nagged her ministry to make the speech shorter but someone conspired to make it longer.
The longest Budget speeches in Indian history
Before Sitharaman’s 2019 speech, the longest Budget speech record was held by Jaswant Singh, who spoke for 2 hours and 15 minutes in 2003. In terms of text, Manmohan Singh holds the record with a speech of 18,650 words in 1991. Former finance minister Arun Jaitley also came close with a speech of 18,604 words in 2018. Jaitley’s speeches hold the third, fourth, and fifth spots for the longest Budget speeches, with 18,122 words in 2015, 17,991 words in 2018, and 16,528 words in 2014.
Shortest Budget speech to date
The shortest Budget speech on record was delivered by former finance minister Hirubhai Mulljibhai Patel in 1977, lasting only 800 words.
Nirmala Sitharaman holds a prominent place in Indian history for her longest Budget speeches, and the country eagerly awaits her fourth Budget presentation on February 1st. Whether she will break her record or not remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure – her speeches are always worth paying attention to.
