FM Sitharaman will surpass the records set by her predecessors such as Manmohan Singh, Arun Jaitley, P Chidambaram, and Yashwant Sinha, who had each presented five budgets consecutively. 
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FM Sitharaman will surpass the records set by her predecessors such as Manmohan Singh, Arun Jaitley, P Chidambaram, and Yashwant Sinha, who had each presented five budgets consecutively. Budget 2024: FM Nirmala Sitharaman, who will be reading out the Interim Budget statement on February 1, 2024, will be the second finance minister to present her sixth straight budget after equalling her record with former PM Morarji Desai.
Sitharaman, the first full-time woman finance minister of the country, has presented five full budgets since July 2019 and will present an interim or vote-on-account budget next Thursday. Sitharaman will surpass the records set by her predecessors such as Manmohan Singh, Arun Jaitley, P Chidambaram, and Yashwant Sinha, who had each presented five budgets consecutively.
Desai, during his tenure as finance minister, had presented a total of five annual budgets and one interim budget from 1959 to 1964. The upcoming interim budget for the year 2024-25, to be presented by Sitharaman on February 1, will serve as a vote-on-account. This will grant the government the necessary authority to allocate specific funds until a new government assumes office following the general elections in April-May.
As this is the year of Lok Sabha elections, FM Sitharaman's interim budget may not have prominent policy changes. Speaking at an industry event in December, FM Sitharaman had confirmed this and said there will not be any "spectacular announcement" in the interim budget. She said it would just be a vote-on-account before the general elections.
A vote-on-account, once approved by Parliament, will authorise the government to withdraw money from the Consolidated Fund of India on pro-rata basis to meet expenditure for the April-July period.
FM Sitharaman is the third finance minister after the Modi government came into power in 2014. At first, Arun Jaitley assumed control of the finance ministry and delivered five consecutive budgets from 2014-15 to 2018-19. In 2017, Jaitley broke away from the tradition established during the colonial era, which involved presenting the budget on the last working day of February, and instead moved it to the 1st of the month.
Due to Jaitley's ill health, Piyush Goyal, who held the additional charge of the ministry, presented the interim budget for 2019-20 on February 1, 2019. Goyal increased the standard deduction for salaried taxpayers by Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000 and also raised the tax rebate for taxpayers with an annual taxable income not exceeding Rs 5 lakh from Rs 2,500 to Rs 12,500.
In the NDA government's second term, Sitharaman was appointed as the Minister of Finance following the 2019 general elections. She made history as the second female minister to present the budget, only after Indira Gandhi, who presented the budget for the 1970-71 fiscal year.
FM Sitharaman brought in some pathbreaking changes in the Budget procedure followed for years. In 2019, Sitharaman replaced the conventional budget briefcase and opted for a 'bahi-khata' adorned with the National Emblem to carry the speech and other documents.
During Sitharaman's tenure, India successfully navigated the challenges posed by the Covid pandemic through a range of policy measures aimed at supporting the underprivileged. Additionally, India maintained its position as the fastest growing major economy and a 'bright spot' in the global economy.
Also read: 'Narrative is being built': Nirmala Sitharaman challenges growth naysayers
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