Union Budget 2022: Here are some interesting facts that you should know

SUMMARY

Here are a few interesting facts about budgets in India:

By Pradeep Suresh Jan 20, 2022 3:11:44 PM IST (Updated)

As the country waits eagerly for finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to unveil the Union Budget on February 1, here are a few interesting facts:

The word budget has French origins. It emerged from the old French term bougette meaning "small leather purse."

The first union budget in the country was presented way back in 1860 by Scottish economist James Wilson on behalf of the East India Company to the British crown.

The first budget of independent India was presented on November 26, 1947, by India’s first finance minister RK Shanukham Chetty.

Until 1955, the budget was only published in English. However, this changed in 1955-56 when the government started to publish it in both English and Hindi.

While Jawaharlal Nehru was the first prime minister to present the budget when he held the finance portfolio back in 1958-59. His daughter and former prime minister Indira Gandhi was the first woman to present the budget in India.

The former Finance Minister Morarji Desai holds the record for presenting the most number of budgets—a record 10—closely followed by P Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee.

Nirmala Sitharaman is the first full-time female finance minister to table the Union Budget.

The record for delivering the longest budget speech is held by late Arun Jaitely. The former finance minister gave a 2.5 hours long budget speech in 2014.