Budget 2026: FM Nirmala Sitharaman to create history with ninth consecutive budget

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to create history on Sunday as she presents the Union Budget for the ninth consecutive time, making her the longest-serving finance minister to hold the post continuously. She assumed charge of the Finance Ministry on May 31, 2019, and will complete six years and eight months in office on January 31, 2026.

During her tenure, Sitharaman has steered the Indian economy through some of its most challenging phases, including the COVID-19 pandemic and a period of global geopolitical and economic uncertainty. Under her stewardship, India has emerged as the fastest-growing major economy in the world.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ahead of the Budget session, said that Sitharaman presenting the Union Budget for the ninth time in a row “will be recorded as a matter of pride in India’s parliamentary history.”

While former prime minister Morarji Desai presented the Union Budget on ten occasions, and P Chidambaram did so nine times, neither achieved the feat in consecutive years. Sitharaman’s upcoming Budget therefore marks a unique milestone in India’s fiscal history.

Among other long-serving finance ministers, C D Deshmukh held the office continuously for around six years and two months starting June 1, 1950. Manmohan Singh served as finance minister for nearly five years between 1990 and 1996 and later briefly held the portfolio as prime minister in 2008 and 2012.

P Chidambaram’s cumulative tenure as finance minister spans about eight years across four separate stints. Others who led the Finance Ministry for extended but non-consecutive periods include Morarji Desai (around 7 years and 9 months), Pranab Mukherjee (6 years and 4 months), Arun Jaitley (4 years and 8 months), Y B Chavan (4 years and 3 months) and Yashwant Sinha (4 years and 4 months).

The first finance minister of independent India was R K Shanmukham Chetty, who laid the foundation of the country’s fiscal framework in the early years after Independence.

As Sitharaman prepares to table her ninth straight Budget, her tenure stands out as one of continuity, crisis management and record-setting longevity in India’s economic governance.