New Delhi: Budget 2026: When everyone is eyeing the Union Budget 2026, which is to be announced on February 1, 2026, by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The speech is being widely looked at for a variety of reasons. This is because the budget may include changes in key policies that can impact the countrymen. The budget speeches are an integral part. Their length and depth highlight the policy reforms, but do you know how long budget speeches can be? Here, we take you through the details about which speech was the longest and the shortest in history.
Longest Budget Speech (2020-21)
The longest budget speech was presented by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, 2020. The speech was almost 2 hours and 42 minutes long and consisted of almost 11,000 words. This comprised various themes like agriculture, infrastructure, finance, taxation, and social welfare. The speech was so intense that the finance minister had to take a halt midway because of getting exhausted. As a result, the remaining part of the speech was tabled in the Parliament.
Jaswant Singh’s speech (2003-04)
The former finance minister, Jaswant Singh, delivered another long budget speech in 2003-04. This speech lasted for almost 2 hours and 15 minutes, in which he talked about the fiscal consolidation, economic stability, and recovery.
Manmohan Singh’s speech (1991-92)
The speech of Manmohan Singh also ranks as one of the biggest. It’s primarily because of its historic impact, and the speech lasted for nearly 2 hours. It was given during a major economic crisis, and it laid the foundation for India’s economic liberalisation. In the speech, the main parts touched were privatization, deregulation, and opening up to global markets. This speech is considered one of the most important ones in history.
Shortest budget speech
The shortest budget speech was given by Hirubhai Mulljibhai Patel in the year 1977. The speech was just 800 words for the interim budget of 1977-78.
Now, everyone is looking forward to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s speech, which is to be presented on February 1, 2026.
