Nirmala Sitharaman to make history with 8th consecutive budget

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1 will present a record eighth consecutive budget that is expected to contain measures to shore up weakening economic growth and ease the burden on the middle class struggling with high prices and stagnant wage growth while being fiscally prudent.

This will take Sitharaman closer to the record of 10 budgets that were



presented by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai over different time periods. Desai has presented a total of 6 budgets during his tenure as finance minister in 1959-1964, and 4 budgets between 1967-1969.

Former finance ministers P Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee had presented nine and eight budgets, respectively, under different Prime Ministers.