This year’s budget announcement will mark the second full Budget of the Modi 3.0 government since re-election in 2024.
Budget 2025: Top five interesting facts
1. India’s first budget was presented by RK Shanmukham Chetty in 1947, after the country’s independence. It was an interim budget, covering a period of seven and a half months until March 31, 1948, to battle the nation’s economic headwinds.
2. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman still holds the title for the longest budget speech in 2020, which was a 2.42-hour budget announcement on February 1, 2020.
3. Halwa ceremony is a traditional ceremony in which every year, “halwa”, a traditional Indian dessert, is prepared and served to officials and staff members of the finance ministry who are involved in preparing the budget. It is one of the longest-standing traditions still followed by the government.
4. In 1950, under Finance Minister John Mathai, the Union Budget was leaked during the printing process. After the leak, the printing process was shifted from Rashtrapati Bhawan to Minto Road. Later, in 1980, it was shifted to the North Block basement.
5. Until 1955, the Union Budget was exclusively in English, then after 1955-56, the annual financial document was presented in both English and Hindi. This tradition was initiated by Finance Minister CD Deshmukh.
