New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will enter the club of five finance ministers to present the Union Budget five times in a row. She will be joining a league of legends like Manmohan Singh, Yashwant Sinha, Arun Jaitley, P Chidambaram and Morarji Desai.
Sitharaman's budget for the fiscal year starting April 2023 is her fifth straight since 2019. Former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, however, tops the list for presenting 10 Budgets, the maximum by any Finance Minister, had presented five of them in a row.
After taking charge of the Finance Ministry in the Modi Government in 2014, Jaitley presented five budgets in a row from 2014-15 to 2018-19. It was in 2017, that Jaitley departed from the colonial-era tradition of presenting the Budget on the last working day of February to 1st of the month. Piyush Goyal, who was holding the additional charge of the Ministry due to ill health of Jaitley, presented the interim budget or vote on account for 2019-20.
After the 2019 general elections, in the Modi 2.0 Government, Sitharaman was given the Finance portfolio. In 2019, Sitharaman became the second woman to have presented the budget after Indira Gandhi, who had presented the budget for the financial year 1970-71.
Congress' P Chidambaram in the UPA government had presented five budgets in a row from 2004-05 to 2008-09. In the BJP-led Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government, Yashwant Sinha as finance minister presented the interim and final budgets for 1998-99. After the general elections in 1999, Sinha presented four budgets -- 1999-2000 to 2002-03.
It was under Sinha that the time for the presentation of the Budget was changed to 11 am from 5 pm. During Narasimha Rao Government, Manmohan Singh was given charge of the Finance portfolio and he presented budgets from 1991-92 to 1995-96. Singh's 1991-92 Budget with a host of economic reforms to liberalise the economy, gave a new direction to India.
