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Interesting Facts About the Indian Budget

Vivek Ranjan
budget facts

Interesting Facts About the Indian Budget

The Indian Union Budget is filled with fascinating facts and historical milestones. A significant milestone in 2021-22 was the first-ever paperless budget, presented digitally on a tablet. Interestingly, the term “budget” is derived from the French word “bougette,” meaning a small bag, symbolizing the finance minister’s portfolio.

  1. The first Indian Budget was presented 160 years ago in 1860, by a Scottish economist named James Wilson.

  2. After Independence, the first Indian Budget was presented on 26th November 1947 by the then Finance Minister Mr RK Shanmukham Chetty.

  3. For the first time in India’s history, the Budget went paperless in 2021

  4.  Manmohan Singh’s 1991 Budget is the most historic Budget in independent India’s history. It liberalized the Indian economy, unshackling it from the licence-permit-quota raj. It set India on a high growth path and opened the Indian companies to foreign competition.

  5. Until 1955, the Budget was printed only in English. The Congress-led Government in 1955 brought in the first Hindi Budget. Since then, the Budget has been prepared in both Hindi and English.

  6. Many of you might not know this, but Prof. Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis was the man behind the Union Budget concept. He was an Indian scientist and a statistician who was also one of the main members of the Planning Commission of India. Considered to be the father of modern statistics in India, PC Mahalanobis was influential in designing independent India’s budget.

  7. The Budgets were always presented at 5pm in India. The practice first started so that the Budget papers could be tabled in the British Parliament as well at same in London. Somehow, it was not until 1999 when the Budget was presented at 11am by the then Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha. His Budget next year was hailed as ‘The Millennium Budget’ for setting the Indian IT sector on a growth path that hasn’t looked back since.

  8. The ‘Halwa Ceremony’ Tradition – There is an Indian tradition of eating something sweet before the start of good work. This tradition is also followed in case of budget presentations. 10 days before the budget is tabled, there is a ‘Halwa’ ceremony held in the ministry of finance. A ‘Halwa’ is prepared and then served at the venue where the budget is printed.

  9. In 1958, Pandit Jawaharlal Lal Nehru was the first Prime Minister to present the budget when Finance Minister, Mr TT Krishnamachari resigned.  Then in 1970, the then Prime Minister, Mrs Indira Gandhi presented the budget when the Finance Minister, Mr Morarji Desai resigned. Similarly, in 1987-88, the then Prime Minister, Mr Rajiv Gandhi, presented the budget when the Finance Minister, Mr VP Singh resigned.

  10. Mr Morarji Desai holds the record for presenting the maximum number of budgets during his tenure. He presented a total of 10 budgets. He is followed by Mr P Chidambaram and Mr Pranab Mukherjee, who presented 9 and 8 budgets respectively.

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