Union Budget 2026: The Union Budget 2026 is just around the corner. Naturally, everyone, from the general public to the business community, has certain expectations from the budget. Every year, the government attempts to address the economic needs and priorities of the upcoming financial year through the budget. The budget is modified each year to suit the country's requirements.
Budget 2026: Which Finance Minister delivered the longest budget speech in history?
Now, all eyes are on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who is expected to present her ninth budget on February 1st. Who delivered the longest budget speech in the country's history, and how long was that speech and how many words did it contain?
The longest budget speech ever?
The longest budget speech in India's history belongs to the current Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman. She delivered a budget speech lasting approximately 2 hours and 42 minutes in Parliament in 2020, which is considered the longest ever. In doing so, she broke her own record from 2019, when her budget speech was 2 hours and 17 minutes long.
Compared to these two years, her speeches in recent years have been considerably shorter. She completed the 2024 interim budget speech in just 56 minutes, the shortest of her tenure. Her 2025 budget speech was approximately 1 hour and 17 minutes long.
Who delivered the longest budget speech in terms of word count?
If we consider budget speeches based on the number of words, the record belongs to 1991. The then Finance Minister, Manmohan Singh, delivered a budget speech in Parliament that contained approximately 18,650 words.
This is considered the longest budget speech to date. The second longest speech was delivered during the presentation of the 2018 budget, when Arun Jaitley presented the budget with a speech of approximately 18,604 words.
