New Delhi: With Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman set to present her 7th straight Budget, News9 looks at interesting trivia related to the great financial exercise in which the FM presents the government’s bill of accounts detailing its earnings, expenditure and borrowings. Finance Minister Sitharaman will present the first Budget of Modi government 3.0 on July 23, 2024.
Budget word origin
The word Budget originated in France which uses the word ‘bougette’ for ‘small bag’. The bag represents the purse of the government. Until recently, the finance ministers of India carried a briefcase with the Budget document before presenting it in Parliament. It has since been replaced with the ‘pothi‘ or ‘bahi khata‘ in alignment with Indian tradition. The Budget has gone paperless since Sitharaman took over as FM.
India’s first Budget
The first Budget of India was not presented in 1947 but in 1860 by the finance minister of the Indian Council. James Wilson who acted as an advisor to the then-viceroy of India.
Wilson connects India to the publication The Economist and the international lender Standard Chartered Bank since he founded these institutions. Wilson was of Scottish origin and held multiple finance-related portfolios in the UK.
Independent India’s first Budget
The first Budget of Independent India was presented by R K Shanmukham Chetty. The interim Budget had a limited validity and was presented on February 28, 1948.
Prime ministers who presented the Budget
Till date, three prime ministers have presented the Budget. The three were coincidentally related to each other across 3 generations:
Jawaharlal Nehru (1958)
Indira Gandhi (1970)
Rajiv Gandhi (1987)
Most budgets presented
The record for the most Budgets presented by an individual is held by former PM Morarji Desai (10).
Congress’ P Chidambaram is second with 9 budgets
Pranab Mukherjee is tied with Yashwant Sinha at 8 Budgets each
Former PM Manmohan Singh presented the Budget 6 times
Who gave the longest Budget speech?
Finance minister Sitharaman is credited with having delivered the longest Budget speech which stretched a massive 2 hours and 42 minutes.
Budget timings
Earlier, the Budget was presented at 5 pm. This was changed to 11 am in 1999 by the then finance minister Yashwant Sinha who also delivered the Millennium Budget in 2000 which set the pace for the Indian IT industry’s astronomical growth.
Budget date
The Budget was presented on February 28, ahead of the last month of the financial year. However, this was changed to February 1 in 2017 to ensure allocation of funds before the start of the new financial year. The Railway Budget was also merged into the Union Budget from this year onwards.
The ‘dream’ Budget
In 1997-98, then finance minister P Chidambaram announced the ‘dream’ Budget, which lowered the tax slab and left more money in the hands of taxpayers. Tax slabs and rates have remained more or less unchanged since then.
Budget for liberalisation
In 1991, Manmohan Singh opened up the Indian market for foreign investment as part of a deal with the IMF. India has not looked back since then, turning a leaf in the book of the Indian economy, and ending the chapter of license-permit raj.
Budget printing and halwa ceremony
Did you know that a halwa ceremony is held at the finance ministry ahead of the Budget presentation? This ceremony marks the completion of the Budget exercise and the document being sent to printing. After this, finance ministry officials involved in the Budget’s creation are asked to keep a low profile to prevent a potential leak.
The Budget was first printed at Rashtrapati Bhavan before being shifted to the Minto Road press in 1950 after the document was leaked. The printing was again shifted to the government press in North Block in 1980.
Budget 2024 trivia: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s 7th budget is the latest in a list of illustrious names that have delivered the Budget speech in their unique style. Biz News Business News – Personal Finance News, Share Market News, BSE/NSE News, Stock Exchange News Today
