Union Budget 2026: Unveiling Fascinating Facts and Historical Milestones

• Nirmala Sitharaman will present her ninth consecutive Union Budget for 2026-27 on February 1, setting a new record for consecutive presentations.
• India's first budget was presented by James Wilson in 1860; the first post-independence budget was by R.K. Shanmukham Chetty in 1948.
• The budget presentation time shifted from 5 PM to 11 AM in 1999 under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
• Nirmala Sitharaman holds the record for the longest budget speech by duration (2 hours 42 minutes in 2020-21), while Dr. Manmohan Singh holds the record for word count (18,604 words in 1991).
• The budget has evolved from English-only presentations to bilingual (Hindi and English) since 1955 and fully digital since 2021-22.

Why It Matters: The Union Budget has a rich history of evolution, marked by significant changes in presentation, duration, and accessibility.