Tracking Time: Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget speech durations 

2025 The latest budget presentation was one hour and 14 minutes long. This year the focus was on democracy, demography and demand. One of the key features was that no income tax will be payable till annual income of Rs 12 lakh.

July 2024 The Budget presented by FM Sitharaman went on for one hour and 25 minutes. The outlay was raised by 11.1 per cent to Rs 11,11,111 crore, accounting for 3.4 per cent of India’s GDP. She  had announced a  significant increase in capital expenditure.

February 2024 Lasting for 56 minutes, this budget speech is FM Sitharaman’s shortest budget speech. This budget focused on  infrastructure development, with significant allocations to boost connectivity, transportation, and urban development. 

2023 FM Sitharaman’s speech lasted for one hour and 27 minutes. The main feature was the introduction of the new income tax regime with revised tax slabs and an increased rebate limit of up to Rs 7 lakh.

2022 One hour and 32 minutes long budget presentation marked Sitharaman’s fourth budget in 2022. The main focus of this budget laid on the digital economy and infrastructure.

2021 In 2021, the budget speech lasted for one hour and 50 minutes. This was the first time that India presented a paperless budget to the Parliament.

2020 FM Sitharaman’s second budget was two hours and 42 minutes long. It is the longest budget speech in India’s history.

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2019 FM Sitharaman presented her first Union Budget in 2019 that went on for two hours and 17 minutes. One of the main features of this budget was the  introduction of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme, providing  Rs 6,000 annually to small farmers

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