Nirmala Sitharaman to become the second Finance Minister to present the Union Budget six times in a row

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to present sixth consecutive budget, focusing on immediate fiscal needs before elections.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will set a record by presenting the sixth Budget in a row -- five annual Budgets and one interim -- a feat achieved so far only by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai.

With the presentation of interim Budget on February 1, Ms. Sitharaman will surpass the records of her predecessors like Manmohan Singh, Arun Jaitley, P. Chidambaram, and Yashwant Sinha, who had presented five budgets in a row. Mr. Desai, as Finance Minister, had presented five annual Budgets and one interim Budget between 1959-1964.

Former Prime Minister Morarji Desai who holds the tag of presenting 10 Budgets -- the maximum by any Finance Minister -- had presented six of them, including one interim, in a row.

The interim Budget 2024-25 to be presented by Ms. Sitharaman on February 1, will be a vote-on-account that will give the Government authority to spend certain sums of money till a new government comes to office after the April-May general elections.

As the Parliamentary elections are due, Ms. Sitharaman's interim Budget may not contain any major policy changes. Speaking at an industry event last month, she had ruled out any "spectacular announcement" in the interim Budget, saying it would just be a vote-on-account before the general elections.

A vote-on-account, once approved by Parliament, will authorise the Government to withdraw money from the Consolidated Fund of India on pro-rata basis to meet expenditure for the April-July period. The new government, which is likely to be formed around June, will come up with a final Budget for 2024-25 in July.

Usually, interim Budgets do not contain major policy announcements, but nothing stops the Government from taking steps which are necessary to deal with the urgent issues facing the economy.