21 July,2024 10:33 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Nirmala Sitharaman. File Pic
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to create history when she presents her seventh straight Budget on Tuesday for the fiscal 2024-25, surpassing the record of former prime minister Morarji Desai.
Nirmala Sitharaman, who will turn 65 next month, was in 2019 appointed as India's first full-time woman finance minister when Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a decisive second term. Since then, she has presented six straight budgets, including an interim one in February this year.
The full Budget for the 2024-25 fiscal (April 2024 to March 2025) will be her seventh this year.
Nirmala Sitharaman will better Morarji Desai's record, who presented consecutive five full budgets and one interim budget between 1959 to 1964.
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This year will witness two budgets, an interim budget which was presented in February and a full budget that will be presented as the budget session starts on July 22.
The government cannot present a full Budget just before general elections which were held earlier this year.
The budget presentation on July 23 will be the first Budget by the BJP-led NDA government since it was re-elected last month.
Here are some facts related to Budget presentation in Independent India:
The word 'Budget' is not mentioned in the Constitution, instead the term 'Financial Statement' is used. Article 112 of the Constitution requires the government to present to Parliament a statement of estimated receipts and expenditure in respect of every financial year, from April 1 to March 31. The statement is called the annual financial statement.
The first Union Budget of independent India was presented by R.K. Shanmukham Chetty on November 26, 1947. The budget had a total revenue of Rs 171.15 crore, a fiscal deficit of Rs 24.59 crore, and a total expenditure of Rs 197.29 crore, with Defence expenditure being Rs 92.74 crore.
The Union Budget is presented by the Finance Minister in the Parliament of India, usually on the last working day of February. After getting the nod from the cabinet, the Finance Minister presents the budget, which is followed by a post-budget press conference to address the media and answer queries.
(with PTI inputs)
