Budget 2025: How long is the average Budget presentation speech?

Nirmala Sitharaman's 2020 Budget speech was the longest in India's history, lasting approximately 162 minutes

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to table the Union Budget for 2025-26 on February 1, 2025 (Saturday). This will mark the second budget of the Modi government’s third term and the eighth consecutive budget by Sitharaman.

FM Sitharaman will start her much-anticipated Budget speech at 11 am as all eyes will be on the announcements and the government’s forward-looking economic guidance.

Average duration of Budget speech:

The duration of Budget speeches has fluctuated over the years, generally lasting between 90 and 120 minutes. However, there have been instances where speeches extended beyond 120 minutes or fell short of 90 minutes.

Longest Budget speech:

Nirmala Sitharaman's 2020 Budget speech was the longest in India's history, lasting approximately 162 minutes. Despite the extended duration, she was unable to finish the last two pages and had to end the speech early.

In terms of word count, Manmohan Singh, the former Prime Minister, holds the record with a speech containing 18,650 words.

Shortest Budget speech:

Hirubhai M Patel holds the record for the shortest Budget speech, delivering only 800 words while presenting the Interim Budget for 1977-78.

Sitharaman holds pre-Budget consultations:

Ahead of the 2025-26 Budget presentation, Sitharaman chaired the eighth Pre-Budget consultation with stakeholders and representatives from trade unions in the national capital on Monday, January 6.

The consultations focused on understanding the perspectives of trade unions regarding the upcoming budget.

Earlier, she also met stakeholders from the financial sector and capital markets as part of her series pre-Budget consultations.

Why Budget presentation date was changed to February 1?

The Union Budget was earlier presented towards the end of February, however, that changed in 2017 after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley moved the date to February 1. This was primarily done to give enough time to the government to prepare for the new policies and changes slated to take effect from new financial year, which runs from April 1 to March 31.

Moreover, the shift to February 1 was aimed at breaking away from the practice followed during the colonial era under British rule.