Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union budget on Sunday, delivering a 1 hour 25 minutes long speech, falling short of her own record set in 2020 when she delivered the longest speech ever.
Presenting her ninth Union Budget 2026, Sitharaman—who extended her record as the finance minister with the highest number of consecutive Budget speeches—announced that India’s economic trajectory was marked by stability, growth and moderate inflation.
Last year, the finance minister spoke for 1 hour and 14 minutes.
Over time, Union Budget speeches have changed in both content and tone to reflect shifting economic priorities and emerging challenges. Although each Budget draws close attention for its policy direction and fiscal focus, a few speeches have stood out for making history because of how long—or how brief—they were.
Let’s take a look at the longest and shortest budget speeches over the years:
Longest Speech: Nirmala Sitharaman holds the distinction of delivering the longest Union Budget speech by duration. Her 2020 Budget address stretched to two hours and 42 minutes, setting a record in India’s parliamentary history. In the course of the speech, she unveiled several significant policy initiatives, such as a new income tax regime and plans for the initial public offering of the Life Insurance Corporation of India. Near the conclusion, Sitharaman’s health faltered, prompting Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to step in and read the final two pages of her speech.
The 2020 Budget address went on to eclipse Sitharaman’s earlier record from 2019, when her speech had run for two hours and 17 minutes. By comparison, her interim Budget speech in 2024 was far briefer at just 56 minutes, marking her shortest Budget presentation since she took charge of the finance portfolio.
Shortest Speech: Former finance minister Hirubhai M Patel delivered the shortest speech in the 1977-78 financial year. Patel, who served in the Morarji Desai government, presented an interim Budget speech that contained only around 800 words, making it the shortest.
Longest Speech By Word Count: Measured by word count, the longest Union Budget speech was delivered by former finance minister Manmohan Singh in 1991. Running to 18,650 words, it still stands as the most extensive Budget address ever in this regard. Close behind is the 2018 Budget speech by former finance minister Arun Jaitley, which contained 18,604 words, making it the second-longest speech by word count.
Sitharaman’s Departure From Tradition
In a break from a 75-year precedent, Sitharaman elevated Part B of her Union Budget speech in 2026 into a key platform for laying out India’s economic strategy rather than leaving it as a short segment focused mainly on tax proposals and procedural details. Traditionally, most substantive policy content has appeared in Part A, but this year Part B was used to communicate a broader vision for the nation’s economic future.
Sitharaman’s Part B went beyond routine fiscal measures to balance immediate priorities with longer-term strategic goals, addressing both near-term economic stability and structural reforms aimed at sustained growth. This expanded section of the speech became the centrepiece of the Budget, conveying India’s developmental roadmap and policy direction as the country advances into the mid-21st century.
Experts believe the revamped Part B will articulate a mix of short-range economic objectives and far-sighted goals, signalling how India intends to leverage its domestic strengths on the global stage and outline strategic sectors that will drive growth.
