Lesser-known facts about the Union Budget

The first Indian Budget ever was presented by James Wilson, a Scottish economist and politician. He did so as a ‘Finance Member of the India Council’. He was reportedly tasked with establishing a new tax structure in India as well as a new paper currency. Unfortunately, Wilson died in India within months of presenting the Budget. He died of dysentery in Calcutta on August 11, 1860. 

• Till 2000, the Budget was presented at 5pm on the last working day of February. It was only in 2001 that finance minister Yashwant Sinha changed the practice and the budget began to be introduced at 11am. It is believed that 5pm was the earlier preferred time as it was convenient for the British Parliament (as it was morning for them).
• The longest Budget speech was delivered by finance minister Arun Jaitley in 2014. It was two and a half hours long and included a five-minute break. 
• The maximum number of Budgets have been presented by Morarji Desai. He presented the budget every year from 1959 to 1963. His second spree was from 1967 to 1969. Apart from this, he presented the interim budget for 1962-63 and 1967-68.
• Till date, only one woman has presented the Budget — Indira Gandhi in 1970-71.
• Every Budget is important but few in the history of modern India come close to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Budget of 1991 in which India’s economy was liberalised. 2016 marks the 25th anniversary of that Budget.