Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present her ninth straight Budget on 1 February, 2026. Budget 2026 will be a year of many firsts — with the top one being the first time it will be held on a Sunday.
Ahead of Budget 2026, sectors and industries across India are expecting a boost for their own fields.
Sitharaman is set to present Budget 2026 at the Parliament at 11 am like other years. After the presentation, the Budget will be deliberated in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha sessions, following which lawmakers would decide whether to pass it or not.
Nirmala Sitharaman is the only Finance Minister in India set to present nine budgets in a row, breaking her own record. Here are some of the Budget records that Sitharaman holds you would want to know before Budget 2026.
Most consecutive Budgets
Nirmala Sitharaman holds the record of presenting the most consecutive Budgets ever. She is the only finance minister of India to have presented eight Budgets in a row from 2019 to 2025. Since 2019, Sitharaman has been holding the Modi government’s finance portfolio, which has enabled her in creating the record
This year, she will break her own record of presenting the most consecutive Budgets ever, with the FM gearing up for her ninth Budget speech on 1 February.
Longest Budget speech
Nirmala Sitharaman holds the record for presenting the longest Budget speech in India’s history at 2 hours and 42 minutes. This was done in 2020, when Sitharaman broke her own record of making the longest Budget speech in 2019, clocking 2 hours and 17 minutes.
During her 2020 Budget speech, Nirmala Sitharaman introduced significant reforms including a new income tax regime and announced while also announcing the historic LIC IPO.
Midway through her speech, Sitharaman felt unwell and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla read the last two pages of her Budget speech.
First paperless Budget
In 2020, Nirmala Sitharaman also made history when she did away with the tradition of presenting the Budget from papers and instead reading out her speech from a tablet.
This was the first time India saw a paperless Budget, with Sitharaman carrying her tab in a red pouch or ‘Bahi Khata’ — breaking a tradition of carrying the ‘Budget briefcase’.
Introducing the ‘Budget Bahi Khata’
In 2019, during the presentation of her first Budget, the Union Finance Minister did away with the colonial tradition of carrying the Budget briefcase. Instead, she wrapped the Budget papers in a red pouch called the ‘Bahi Khata’, embracing Indian tradition. The red, , cloth-wrapped pouch with the national emblem represents India’s heritage in financial book-keeping.
Closing in on Moraji Desai
With Budget 2026, Nirmala Sitharaman will be a step closer to equalling Moraji Desai’s record. The former Finance Minister holds the record of presenting 10 Budgets, albeit not in a row. Budget 2026 will be Sitharaman’s ninth presentation, short by only one speech when compared with Desai.
