Nirmala Sitharaman creates history with longest budget speech

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday (February 1) created history delivering the longest Budget speech ever. Her speech lasted two hours and 17 minutes, making it the longest Budget speech ever.

Sitharaman’s speech was longer than former finance minister Jaswant Singh’s 2003 speech by four minutes.

Also read: Budget 2020: Nirmala Sitharaman winds up longest-ever speech

Former Prime Minister and finance minister Manmohan Singh’s landmark 1991 Budget speech was the longest in terms of words at 18,650. Arun Jaitley holds the record for the second-longest Budget speech comprising 18,604 words delivered in 2018. He also holds the record for the third, fourth and fifth longest speeches made in 2014, 2017 and 2016 respectively.

Interestingly, the shortest Budget speech comprised of 800 words by HM Patel in 1977. This speech was made while delivering the interim budget.