Union Budget 2023: 800 Words To Over 18,500—from The Shortest To The Longest Budget Speeches And The FMs Who Deliver Them
February 2023: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her fifth Union Budget on Wednesday, February 1, 2023.
The formal proceedings for Budget 2023 were launched by the Finance Ministry on January 26 by observing the traditional Halwa ceremony.
Record for the longest budget speech in India
In 2020, Sitharaman held the record for the longest budget speech when he presented the Union Budget 2020–2021 on 1 February.
With two pages left, she felt uncomfortable and had to cut her speech short after speaking non-stop for 2 hours and 42 minutes. The text of the speech contained a total of 13,275 words.
Second longest budget speech
Sitharaman broke her record set in 2019 when she delivered her first budget speech lasting 2 hours and 17 minutes.
In 2021, the finance minister made the budget paperless by introducing the document on a tablet for the first time.
As a result, Sitharaman delivered his shortest budget speech to date, lasting 1 hour and 40 minutes and totaling 10,500 words.
Sitharaman’s thoughts on his speeches
Sitharaman expressed dissatisfaction with the length of his 2020 speech at an industry event later that year. She constantly pestered her ministry to shorten the speech but someone conspired to make it longer.
The longest budget speech in Indian history
Before Sitharaman’s 2019 speech, the record for the longest budget speech 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 came close with a speech of 18,604 words in 2018.
Jaitley’s speeches are the third, fourth and fifth longest budget speeches with 18,122 words in 2015, 17,991 words in 2018 and 16,5024 words.
Shortest budget speech ever
The shortest budget speech on record was delivered by former finance minister Hirubhai Muljibhai Patel in 1977, which was just 800 words.
Nirmala Sitharaman holds the distinction in Indian history for her longest budget speeches, and the country eagerly awaits the presentation of her fourth budget on February 1.
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.
Are you an
Entrepreneur or Startup? Do you have a Success Story to Share? SugerMint would like to share your success story. We cover entrepreneur Stories, Startup News, Women entrepreneur stories, and Startup stories
|
Read more Business Stories, corporate industry news, and company news at SugerMint. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn