Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget speech durations: A look through the years

Nirmala Sitharaman's briefest Budget speech till date was delivered on February 1, 2024, before the Lok Sabha elections

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday delivered her second shortest Union Budget speech yet, clocking in at 1 hour and 25 minutes, two minutes shorter than last year’s speech.

Sitharaman’s briefest Budget speech till date was delivered on February 1, 2024, before the Lok Sabha elections, lasting just 56 minutes. She also holds the record for the longest Budget speech, which spanned 2 hours and 40 minutes in 2020.

In 2019, as India’s first full-time woman Finance Minister, Sitharaman’s Budget speech lasted 2 hours and 17 minutes. In 2021, her speech duration was 1 hour and 50 minutes, followed by 92 minutes in 2022 and 87 minutes in 2023.

Here is a summary of Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget speech durations over the years:

- 2019 — 2 hours, 17 minutes

- 2020 — 2 hours, 40 minutes

- 2021 — 1 hour, 50 minutes

- 2022 — 1 hour, 32 minutes

- 2023 — 1 hour, 27 minutes

- February 1, 2024 — 56 minutes

- July 23, 2024  — 1 hour, 25 minutes

The Narendra Modi government’s first post-election Budget 2024, presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, focused on increasing spending to create jobs. Sitharaman announced that the government will allocate Rs 2 trillion for job creation over the next five years. Three employment-linked schemes will be launched, based on enrollment in the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO).
 

In the Union Budget for 2024-25, Sitharaman also unveiled a scheme to provide internship opportunities to 1o million youth in 500 top companies over the next five years.

Additionally, the Centre also allocated over Rs 3 trillion for schemes benefiting women and girls and reiterated its commitment to the completion and financing of the Polavaram irrigation project.