From 2 hrs 40 min to 87 min: FM Sitharaman's 5th Budget speech was also her shortest
1 min read . Updated: 01 Feb 2023, 04:03 PM IST
Premium- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday delivered a speech under 90 minutes. Her speech's run time was 87 minutes only. Last year, she clocked 92 minutes, which held the record for being the shortest.
Four Union Budget speeches later, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on 1 February, 2023 , her fifth consecutive Union Budget presentation, delivered her shortest speech breaking her own record in 2021. The finance minister's speech ran for 87 minutes, shortest in her five terms as the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday delivered a speech under 90 minutes. Her speech's run time was 87 minutes only. Last year, she clocked 92 minutes, which held the record for being the shortest. In 2021, she spoke for an hour and 50 minutes.
Notably, this is Nirmala Sitharaman's last full fledged budget ahead of the Lok Sabha elections scheduled to be held in 2024.
The finance minister's daughter Vangmayi Parakala and several relatives were seen watching from the visitors' gallery in the Lok Sabha as she spoke on Wednesday.
This year's Budget included huge capital outlay in infrastructure and agriculture while the working middle class got a much-needed income tax relief with people earning up to 7 lakhs a year will have to pay no tax.
In 2020, she broke all records for making the longest budget speech in India's history at 2 hours and 40 minutes. She was forced to cut it short and take a breather as she felt unwell.
Sitharaman was seen sipping on what appeared to be electrolytes during the 2020 speech.
In her ‘first budget of the Amrit Kaal’ Sitharaman highlighted the fact that the Indian economy has increased in size from the 10th to 5th largest in the world in the past nine years, said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday during the budget speech.
Highlighting the numerous achievements of the Narendra Modi government since 2014, the minister said that the per capita income has more than doubled to ₹1.97 lakh.
She further emphasised the mantra of "leaving no one behind" of the government, and said, "We have significantly improved our position as a well-governed and innovative country with a conducive environment for business as reflected in several global indices and have made significant progress in many Sustainable Development Goals."
