How long was Nirmala Sitharaman's 2025 Union Budget speech? Here’s how it compares to her past records
Business & economy, India news: The longest budget speech in history was made by Sitharaman when she presented the budget for 2020-2021 as her speech lasted for 2 hours 42 minutes.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2025 on Saturday (Feb 1), and her speech lasted for 77 minutes, which is shorter than the previous year's speech, which was for 85 minutes.
Sitharaman presented her eighth consecutive budget, setting a record. Earlier, she presented an interim and six regular budgets.
Former Prime Minister Morarji Desai holds the record for presenting 10 budgets, though not in continuance.
Notably, the longest budget speech in history was made by Nirmala Sitharaman when she presented the Union Budget for 2020-2021. Her speech lasted for 2 hours 42 minutes (162 minutes).
Finance Minister Sitharaman's budget speech over the years:
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Sitharaman gave the speech for an hour and 25 minutes (85 minutes).
During the interim budget last year, Sitharaman presented her sixth consecutive budget with the shortest speech so far, which lasted for 56 minutes.
Finance Minister Sitharaman budget speech that year lasted for 87 minutes.
In 2022, Nirmala aSitharaman's budget speech was 92 minutes long.
In 2021, Sitharaman presented the first paperless budget, during which she gave a speech for 1 hour and 40 minutes. She took a digital tablet wrapped in a traditional "bahi-khata" style pouch.
The year when Sitharaman broke the record by speaking for two hours and 41 minutes, making it the longest speech in India's history.
During her speech, she paused in the middle of the speech and sat down because, reportedly, her blood pressure dropped.
In 2019, Sitharaman presented her first budget and her speech was one of the longest ever, and lasted for 2 hours and 17 minutes. She occasionally shifted to Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and even Sanskrit.
At that time, she did not even pause for a water break and spoke continuously.
(With inputs from agencies)
