Budget 2024: A look at India’s longest-serving finance ministers

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the full Indian budget on July 23. This will be the seventh time she will present the budget under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government. This year alone she presents her second Union Budget, the first time being in February, when the government held an interim budget owing to the election year.

India has seen over 30 finance ministers present the budget in the parliament since it attained independence in 1947. Some of these ministers have been in the pivotal more than once and some have made history in serving as the longest finance ministers.  

Also read: India Budget 2024: What did India’s first Budget look like?

As India gears up for the big day, here’s a look at India’s longest-serving finance ministers.

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• Morarji Desai: On the top of the list is Morarji Desai, a former prime minister, who has been the finance minister 7 times. He was the Finance Minister from 1958-1962 and again from 1967-1969 under the Congress government

• P. Chidambaram: Next in line of longest-serving finance ministers is P. Chidambaram who has also been on the post seven times. Following his stints from 1996-1997 and 1997-1998, Chidambaram took up the post once again in 2004 for four years. In 2012, he was made the finance minister under the UPA government and served the post till 2014

• Yashwant Sinha: He served in the post six times from 1999-2004 under the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA government

• Pranab Mukherjee: The former President of India served as the finance minister five times under the Congress-led UPA government from 1982-1984 and once in 2009

• Manmohan Singh: The former prime minister of India served as the finance minister five times between 1991-1996 under the Congress government

Nehru also presented a budget

A lesser-known fact about the history of Indian budgets is that prime ministers have also presented the document in the parliament in the past. This includes India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru who presented the Union Budget in 1958 after the then finance minister T. T. Krishnamachari was forced to resign from the cabinet.

Other prime ministers who took the finance minister’s platform to present the budget include Morarji Desai, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Manmohan Singh.